The Beginning of the End
by Genki Kitsune
Summary: Takes place after "Gideon Rises". Bill has been telling Dipper about a plan of his for the last few weeks, only missing two things, known as "Glasses" and "Llama". Meanwhile, the Flynn-Fletchers and Nicole Bonabel win a trip to Gravity Falls, with Nicole having weird dreams about Bill and "Pine Tree". Is it a simple coincidence? Or is something else going on altogether?
1. A Surprise Trip

_**A/N: Hi everyone! I'm Genki Kitsune! If you don't know already, this is my first fan fiction on the site, so I'm a bit nervous on how it'll do… Regardless of that, however, I do hope at least someone reads it to get, at the very least, an opinion on how I write.**_

_**With that out of the way, I hope you enjoy it! Oh, and of course, I don't own "Phineas and Ferb" or "Gravity Falls". The only thing that's mine is the OC, Nicole Bonabel.**_

**Chapter 1: A Surprise Trip**

_**Somewhere in Gravity Falls…..**_

_Hello, Pine Tree._

Dipper Pines looked up, unfazed by Bill's appearance. The demon had been hanging around him since Gideon was put in jail. At first, his appearances were surprising, but now they were just slightly annoying.

_I have so many plans, Pine Tree, and you're in them._

Every day around this time, Bill would appear and kept on blabbering about some sort of plan. Whenever Dipper defeated a monster, Bill always said the same thing: _That's nothing compared to what my plan is. _It was like he was learning all of Dipper's ways of defeating a creature, always studying and watching, as if to create something far worse than anything that Dipper had faced. The very thought sent shivers down the boy's spine.

_If only Glasses and Llama would come, they're taking too long._

Glasses and Llama; Dipper had no idea who they were, but he hoped they'd never come. They were the only things that Bill was missing before he could put his plan into action. Bill once mentioned that Dipper, the symbols, and a few others were a part of some sort of team. If that was true, and considering Dipper had only recently told secret of the Number 3 Book to his Grunkle, his own family, then how were two _strangers_ supposed to be trusted?

_Pine Tree, what's the date today?_

That was a thing he always asked; Dipper never got why. "July twentieth." He replied, then looking at the small demon, expecting it to look disappointed. Instead, Bill just hovered above him, staying perfectly silent. Then, without a word, Bill vanished into thin air.

This made Dipper terrified.

* * *

_**The next day….**_

"Do I really have to come with you guys, Phineas? I think it'd be better if I watched Perry or something." Nicole asked her friend/roommate. Nicole Bonabel had no intention of coming with the Flynn-Fletchers. The preteen had her raven black hair in her usual braid, a deep tan, dark green eyes, and wore her usual dark green tank, khaki shorts, and black tennis shoes.

"Perry's going to be fine, Grandpa Jo's watching him," Phineas replied, in his usual upbeat tone. The optimistic preteen was excited for this trip; then again, he was excited about almost everything. The inventor had red, fiery hair, slightly pale skin, bright blue eyes, and wore an orange and white striped shirt, blue shorts, and blue sneakers. "Besides, you're temporarily part of the family, and we always go on trips together."

"Do you think I want to go voluntarily?" Candace, Phineas' sixteen year old sister, commented.

"My point is," Phineas continued, ignoring his sister, "we're all going." Nicole still looked unsure. "Come on, it'll be fun!" She still looked perfectly content staying there. "Please?" Phineas put on his most cute puppy doggish face. Nicole bit her lip for a moment. "Alright, I'll come!" Nicole said, forcing her glance off of him. "Just quit doing that!" Phineas' face went returned to normal as he teased, "I knew you couldn't say no to the face," to which Nicole lightly punched his arm in response.

"Kids, we got to get going or we'll miss the plane!" Mrs. Flynn pointed out, as Phineas, Nicole and Candace came to the car. Nicole was about to enter when she felt a hand tap her arm. She turned and saw Phineas' stepbrother, Ferb. The Brit had light green hair, pale skin, baby blue eyes, and wore a white shirt, purple shorts, and black tennis shoes. The boy said nothing as he handed her what looked like a black protractor and a pencil case filled with silver pencils. "Thanks," Nicole said, grabbing the two items from his hand, soon shoving them into her pocket. The two sat next to Phineas in the car as the drive to the airport began.

* * *

**Nicole's POV**

I hate flying.

I guess I've always had my feet close to the ground. So the fact there was over sixteen hundred feet between me and solid Earth was possibly the scariest thing I knew at the moment. Phineas and Ferb, however, couldn't have been more different. The two were right next to me, sleeping easy. I couldn't blame them. Our plane was delayed for four hours and we had to land in Idaho for two hours because of a fuel leak. It was ten when we resumed the flight. It was about midnight, but I couldn't sleep. Not because of nerves, but because of a dream I had last night. Wait; check that, last _several_ nights.

It always was the same: it started on a boy with a blue hat, a Pine tree in the center. His appearance was a little blurry to me. Soon after that, a little yellow triangle with one eye floated over him. The conversation was the same: the triangle, I think his name was Bill or Bob, would greet the boy as Pine Tree. He'd talk to him about some plan of his, complain that these people called Glasses and Llama were taking too long, blah, blah, blah, and he would ask Pine Tree what the date was. This was the only part that the boy spoke at. He'd say the date, Triangle would look disappointed, and would say "Beware, Pine Tree, for your out doing will happen soon!" (Or something like that, I haven't paid attention since the first time), and leave him.

That is, until last night.

After Pine Tree told Triangle the date, the Triangle (for once) had stayed quiet. Then, he just…vanished, no threats or anything. It was right about then I woke up and heard that we were going to stay at Gravity Falls because we had won a trip. And, after my dream, I knew it couldn't have been a coincidence. It might have just been paranoia, but I still was iffy about the whole thing.

I looked out the window into the bleak blackness of night, sighing. I guess only time could tell what Gravity Falls had in store for me. I drifted off into an uneasy sleep, wondering what was going to happen next.

* * *

"Nicole!" I heard a voice whisper. I opened my eyes and saw Phineas, shaking my arm. "Are you alright?" There was concern in his voice.

"Fine," I responded half-heartily, scolding myself. Granted, I only had about a full hour of sleep on the plane because I kept seeing Pyramid guy, but I wasn't going to tell anyone about that, especially Phineas.

It took a moment or two before I remembered where I was. We had arrived in Gravity Falls to find no hotel available. Mrs. Flynn then saw a flyer about a place called "The Mystery Shack" and decided to look for some help there. We were a part of the crowd outside the Shack, waiting to go inside. And frankly, I understand why they called it the Mystery Shack. It was a mystery how the place was still standing in it condition, much less with people inside it! It was a run down, creaky old shack with a sign that said 'Mystery Hack', the old wooden 'S' only staying on the roof by a thread.

Suddenly, the front door opened and an old man went through. He looked about as old as the Shack was, with brown eyes, gray hair and five o'clock shadow, pale and wrinkled skin, with a red fez with a yellow claw/crescent in the center, a black eye patch, black thick-rimmed glasses, a black suit buttoned up, a white dress shirt, a red bow tie, and old brown shoes. He smiled at our group with pearl white teeth, though they looked like dentures.

"Welcome, one and all, to the Mystery Shack."

* * *

**Dipper's POV**

"…And that concludes our tour." Grunkle Stan concluded, showing in today's victims into the gift shop. It was a particularly large selection today, the tour big enough to fill up the gift shop, to which the poor suckers did. I started to focus back on my work, but I soon felt a familiar poke on my right shoulder. I looked up and saw my twin, Mabel, standing to my side. We were basically identical in looks: brown hair, brown eyes, lightly tanned skin. Our major differences were in height (she was taller than me by a millimeter, WHICH IS ONLY USED IN CANADA), gender, and clothing. She decided to wear a blue sweater to with a purple heart, a green skirt, blue shoes, and purple earrings today. Her silver braces were fully exposed with her usual wide smile.

"Oh gosh, Dipper, check out those two boys over there!" Mabel whispered as she pointed out her crushes for today (I think the term 'victims' is more appropriate. Or 'obsessions' could work.) One was tall, had pale skin, green hair, blue eyes, an oddly shaped head, and wore a white button down shirt with purple pants and black sneakers, while the other was shorter, had red hair, pale-ish skin, blue eyes, a triangle shaped head, and wore an orange and white striped tee, blue shorts, and blue sneakers.

"Mabel, you don't even know them. You are REALLY taking this whole boy crazy thing a little too seriously." I commented.

"Oh, come on," she started. She looked through the crowd for a moment or two before turning back to me. "Look, there's even one for you!" She then proceeded to point out someone else.

The girl Mabel pointed out was in the corner, looking at the book shelf. She had a dark tan, black hair, green eyes, a normal shaped head, and wore a green tank, tan khakis and black sneakers. I looked a little closer and noticed small bags under her eyes. I was about to return to work when Mabel pushed me from behind the display case, whispering, "Talk to her!"

Knowing Mabel wouldn't give up until I did, I decided to get this over with and walked up to the girl. I was about to reach her when I heard a familiar chuckle. I froze.

Bill.

I turned around, but the demon was nowhere to be found. I was about to grab Journal 3 when I heard someone take a sharp intake of air. I turned around and saw the girl Mabel pointed out, considerably paler then when I saw her at first. "Uh, are you okay?" I asked; she looked as if she had seen a ghost or something.

The girl quickly regained her composure. "Yeah, I'm fine, I was just… getting this book," she told me, grabbing a red book off the shelf. "How much?"

"Just take it," I told her, "Stan doesn't check inventory much anyway."

She nodded and, before I could ask any more questions, she walked quickly out the door, book still in hand.

I went back by Mabel. "So how'd it go?"

_**A/N: Alright, so hopefully that wasn't too bad. R/R, please!**_


	2. A Journal and A Chase

_**A/N: Hi everyone! Okay, I forgot to mention this last time, but I'm going to try and update every Tuesday and Thursday.**_

_**I only own Nicole Bonabel! Everything else belongs to Disney!**_

**Chapter 2: A Journal and a Chase**

**Nicole's POV**

I knew coming here was a bad idea!

I was by a Great Oak in the forest just outside the Shack, the air around me suddenly heavier. I was alone in the woods, which was good, because I didn't want anyone to see me freaking out. It took me a minute or two to calm down. So I had seen Pine Tree. So I had heard a faint chuckle in the Shack. It was just a weird coincidence, nothing more! I put my hand on my knee down, and felt hard leather where grass should have been.

I looked down. I almost forgot about the book I got from the Shack. I really didn't pay any attention to it; I was just looking for an excuse to get out of there. But since I had it, I guess it wouldn't kill me to look inside. I turned the book over and opened to the first, yellowed page. It read:

_You're a fool for every getting these books! _(Something I couldn't make out; it was too smudged)_ But…I suppose I am a fool for ever writing them. _(Something else unreadable) _I dearly hope you are one of Us, Reader, or you are in mortal danger. I have this overwhelming feeling I am under constant watch. I pray it be only paranoia. If truly…_They_…are on to me… I dare not think what it could lead to._

I raised an eyebrow, flipping forward a few pages. I only saw bits and pieces of them, but it must have been a healing book, as it contained remedies and information on herbs. Though some of the ingredients were…odd, to say the least, with two full pages containing information of the uses of toad eyes and rabbit bones. The writer picked up again on one of the last pages.

_This is only the beginning of the secrets of Gravity Falls. _(I looked at the cover. Indeed, the beginning of "these books", as a six fingered hand had a '1' in its center.) _I hope this information will be as useful to you as it has been for me. You must protect these books with your life, for who knows what could happen if it ever goes into wrong hands. I pray this never happens. For you, dear Reader, good luck, and most importantly of all: Never let our enemies get these books. In Gravity Falls, there is no one you can ever trust!_

The writing stopped. I began to wonder who the author was so afraid of when a light brown rabbit hopped out of nowhere and grabbed the book off my lap.

"Hey!" I yelled. The rabbit didn't even pause for a moment. It continued hopping down, disappearing around a bend. I growled, quickly following after.

I was close on the rabbit's heels when I noticed it had paused, putting its head down in some grass. Silently stopping, I reached in my pockets and pulled out the black "protractor" and one of the silver "pencils". I put a bit of pressure on each object, and they began to expand. Once they had stopped, my black bow and a silver arrow appeared in my hands.

"There you are, you little…"

I stopped mid-way when the creature lifted its head up. On its head were two pearl white horns. It stared at me with gold eyes, almost amused by my shocked expression. "…J-jackalope? But… those don't exist!"

It looked at me as if to say, "_Well, if I wasn't real, you wouldn't be seeing me right now, would you?"_

I looked at it dumbly as I noticed the book by one of its white paws. I slowly approached it, as I didn't want to startle the ra- er, jackalope. Otherwise, the book might vanish altogether. I was about to reach the creature when it snapped to attention. The creature looked like was about to scurry away before a net descended upon it, trapping it inside. Frightened, it looked at me with pleading eyes. I had to admit, the little guy sure was cute…

"Let me get my book and I'll free you." I told it. Oh great, talking to a jackalope. I think I might be certifiably insane now.

It looked at me as if to say _"Deal."_ I used the arrow I had in my hand and cut it loose, and the creature hurried away. I picked up the old leather book it left behind.

That's when I heard someone coming.

* * *

**Dipper's POV**

"Hello?" I called out. I was in the woods just outside the Shack, as I thought the girl from earlier went in here.

Why was I looking for her? Apparently, Stan (for once) checked some of the books on the shelf and saw the one book the girl took missing. For some reason, he told me to find that book as quickly as possible. Apparently, he had accidentally put it there and needed it for something else important. He didn't explain what, but I'm still amazed that he reads something else besides _Gold Chains for Old Men _magazine.

Following some fresh footsteps, I entered into bit of a clearing, where I swore I heard her yell at someone. "Hello? If you're the girl from the Shack, Stan needs the book back! He accidentally put it there!"

No one replied. I was about to head back when I heard a twig break. I turned around once more to find a figure of a girl. To make sure I wasn't seeing things, I asked, "Hello?"

She bolted.

* * *

**Nicole's POV**

"Hey, wait!" Pine Tree said, soon following after me. I felt the coarse book under my arm. If the author was correct, he had apparently written the book in order to keep it away from something-or some_one_. For all I knew, maybe it was that Stan guy; maybe the boy chasing after me was in on it, too. And according to the writer, he…she…_whatever_…wanted the book badly. What would it/they do if it/they caught me?

I didn't even want to think about it.

I continued to run for a while longer, hearing the boy pant behind me. I gave him credit, he was determined. I began to breathe heavily as well.

_Wait a minute, why am I still running?_ I realized. _ I have twelve arrows and a bow at hand!_

I scanned the area by me. There were a ton of trees, and plenty of hiding places.

_Perfect._

* * *

**No POV**

Dipper panted heavily as he looked around another opening. Nicole had somehow vanished in the trees around him. It was weird how she was able to give him the slip; Dipper swore something bright was on her…

"Hello?" He called, instantly regretting it. _Why would she come out? Only a psychopath would do that!_

Dipper looked around the area. Nothing looked like anyone had been there recently. Once more, Dipper began to head back, before something new got his attention. This time, it was the familiar shadow of Nicole. Not just her shadow, though.

The other thing he quickly noticed was an arrow's silhouette, pulled back by a bow's outline, aimed dead center at the young adventurer.


	3. Meeting

**Chapter 3: Meeting**

**No POV**

Dipper forced every instinct in his body not to show visible panic. Sure, he was screaming like a little girl inside, but he didn't want her to know that. Dipper had faced humans as well as monsters in Gravity Falls. Gideon Gleeful, for example, was one of the worst humans Dipper faced off with. Gideon was backhanded, deceitful, and knew a bit of magic as well. But he'd faced Gideon and won. As far as he knew, she might be the same.

"I'm taking a wild guess in saying you're not giving up that book?" Dipper asked the girl. He wanted her to talk so he could figure a way out of this mess.

"Yep," Nicole replied. Journal Number 1 was under her right sneaker, but she had made sure the branch was big enough to hide the book's outline. The arrow only _looked _like it was aimed at Dipper. Unbeknownst to him, the arrow was aimed a little to the left, out of harm's way. If he'd figured out her trick, as long as she had the book hidden, Nicole figured she'd have the upper hand. She wasn't so crazy as to attempt _murder_, for Christ's sake!

"And its right to assume Grunkle Stan's out of luck if he wants the book back?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"So I better head back?"

"What do you think?"

Rathering not to get into an argument with an armed (possibly crazy) person, Dipper started to head back. It all might have very easily ended there if Dipper hadn't heard Nicole say, "This stays between us, Pine Tree."

"What did you just call me?" Dipper questioned; a hint of fear was in his tone. Bill was the only person he'd ever heard use the name "Pine Tree". Were he and the girl in some sort of alliance?

"I said 'Pine Tree'. A pine tree's clearly printed on your hat. Little hard to miss, actually…" Nicole lied. She didn't know what else to call him; the triangle guy had never said his first name, and he didn't wear a name tag in the shop. It sorta just rolled off the tongue.

"Oh." Dipper responded, relieved. "I guess that makes sense. Sorry, I was just thinking of… something else."

"It's fine. Trust me, I know how that feels." Nicole reassured him, thinking of Bill.

"So… Do you always threaten everyone with a bow and arrow that appear out of nowhere, or am I the first?"

Nicole remembered the weapon in her hand. "Oh! Sorry about that," She placed the same amount of pressure of each object, and the two items retracted back to pencil and protractor. "Actually, you're the second person that's happened to, now that you mention it…"

"Whoa, how'd you do _that_?" Dipper interrupted, eyes fixed on the former weaponry.

"Oh, that?" Nicole said, looking at the smaller objects. "It's just something I asked my friend Ferb to do. I really didn't feel comfortable coming here, so I asked him to find a way to have an archery kit at my side."

Dipper scoffed. "I don't blame you. If you'd spend an hour in my shoes…"

"I think I got the idea." Nicole told him, sitting on the branch. "Or are you just saying that because your grandfather's a con and you're getting paid for it?"

"First off, he's my great uncle, or 'Grunkle', actually." Dipper corrected. "Second off, I'm dead serious about something off in this town. Third off, I'm not getting paid, unless if you count 'Stan Bucks' as a form of currency." He paused. "How'd you know Stan's a con, anyway?"

"The 'Rock that looks like a Face Rock' was a bit of a giveaway." Nicole informed him. "Though your 'Grunkle' might need change the name; we spent a decent five minutes on what it was called."

"We haven't thought of a good replacement yet."

"Ah." A small portion of silence followed this.

"So, are you just gonna sit there all day or…?" Dipper ended the silence with the question.

"Oh, right." Nicole remembered, grabbing the journal as she dropped down below. "I'm Nicole Bonabel, by the way."

"Dipper Pines," Dipper introduced himself, forgetting the book he originally came to get. The two started to head back to the Shack as Dipper brought up, "'Second person'? Who else did you have to threaten with a bow and arrow?"

"Speak for yourself, 'Stan Bucks'. Stan seriously doesn't pay his own employees? Isn't that illegal or something?"

* * *

**Dipper's POV**

When I arrived back at the Shack with Nicole, the red head from before, I think Nicole said his name was Phineas, came up to us. "There you are!" He said to Nicole. "Come on, we have to get unpacked!"

"'Unpacked'?" Nicole asked him, her eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, as it turns out, the Shack's part hotel!" Phineas smiled. _Oy vey, what Stan won't do for an extra buck… _I face palmed. Phineas didn't notice as he continued, "The Shack has a few spare rooms. We're paying to stay for one week, only fifty bucks a night per person!"

"Ten bucks for additional food and drink costs, five for bathroom usage…" I eavesdropped on Stan counting a thick stack of green bills. _Oh God, these poor people. Please don't let Stan put them in the basement or something... _I prayed. Stan once pulled the same thing on this poor honeymooning couple. For a full weekend, Stan treated them like prisoners in that Colombian prison he once was held in.

"Come on, our room's in the attic!" Phineas finished, pulling Nicole behind him to hurry her up.

_Oh, thank God it isn't- THE ATTIC?!_

_**A/N: Yeah, this might have been a little short. I just wanted to get the Pines and Flynn-Fletchers together. By the way, that "second person" that Nicole threatened? Yes, that is an important part to her backstory and character, which I'll get into it later.**_


	4. Gnomes

_**A/N: Hi! Alright, so I won't be able to publish anything on Thursday because I'm going out of town to a place with no Internet access for July 4**__**th**__**. But, despite this, I hope you guys have a good July 4**__**th**__** holiday!**_

**Chapter 4: Gnomes**

**Dipper's POV**

Alright, I'll admit the last two nights with the Flynn-Fletchers weren't so bad. Mr. and Mrs. Flynn got the old wax figurine storage room to sleep in, Stan stealing my mattress for the two of them to sleep on. Ferb gave me his blanket to put on my wood bed frame. It wasn't the most comfortable thing ever, but I managed. The Flynn-Fletcher's daughter, Candace, got Soos' break room. Soos, the handyman of the Shack, just went with the flow (as expected) and was more than happy to temporarily return to his old break room (it was really an electrical panel; yes, Stan is _that _cheap). To finish it off, Ferb, Phineas and Nicole roomed with me and Mabel in the attic.

Mabel was _super_ excited to find out that A) another girl was living in the Shack, and B) her two crushes were now sleeping in the same room as she was. Mabel mostly wanted to talk to Nicole about boys, some "age inappropriate werewolf romance novels", and other various girly things, to which Nicole was less than enthusiastic about. When not "bonding" with Nicole, Mabel mostly flirted with Phineas (and once in a while Ferb), who was rather oblivious to her feelings. According to Nicole, another girl has been trying for a few years to get Phineas' attention with no luck. "Mabel doesn't have a prayer," she sighed.

Phineas and Ferb themselves are pretty cool. Phineas is the more talkative of the two, but Ferb's one sentence per day is much needed, considering I live with Mabel and temporarily with Phineas. Phineas mostly hangs around Mabel, Waddles (Mabel's pig), and Soos, the last of which is because he's an inventor. And I don't take this term lightly. The guy's a technological _genius_, as well as Ferb. I think they could honestly build twenty buildings that could reach the moon in two days! Phineas claims they're on break from all that, but considering the sketch book he bought from the Shack's gift shop is almost filled, that won't last long. However, I keep a bit of an eye on Ferb. He's been poking around our room, and I'm afraid he's gonna find the Number 3 book I hid in an old shoe box.

Despite most of her time being filled with Mabel, Nicole and I snag a moment or two alone. While she isn't as smart as the boys, she's a very skilled markswoman. She always hits the target on the totem pole when we went to Wendy's secret hiding place, something I couldn't accomplish until after two weeks of trying! For the most part, she's an open book. Phineas warned that family was a touchy subject, so I never asked, and she's told numerous stories (presumably true) about the boys.

Yet why do I still have the feeling she's hiding something?

* * *

**Nicole's POV**

"What's another ten letter word for 'possessive'?" I heard Dipper ask. We were alone in the room the six (if you included Waddles) of us shared. I was flipping through the pages of Journal Number 1 (behind an issue of a magazine called _Gold Chains for Old Men)_ and Dipper was doing some old crossword.

"Try M-A-B-E-L-P-I-N-E-S," I replied. He slightly chuckled.

"Oh, come on, Mabel isn't _that_ bad." Dipper told me. "She's a bit eccentric sometimes, sure, but she's a nice girl if you'd get to know her."

"Are you kidding me? I'm lucky if I get a single word out during a conversation!"

Before Dipper could reply, we felt a light rumble coming from outside. The two of us shared a glance as we headed to look out the window.

"Is… Is that a giant gnome?" I asked, astonished by the sight before me.

Unfortunately, I wasn't seeing things. A giant freaking gnome, of all things, was right outside the Shack. Well, technically it was a ton of little gnomes in the shape of a giant gnome. Dipper said, "God, again?" and opened up the window.

"JEFF, WHAT DO YOU WANT?" Dipper screamed.

I think one of them replied, but we couldn't hear anything. "WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Dipper screamed again.

"I SAID, WELL, WELL, IF IT ISN'T DIPPER PINES, OUR AGE OLD ENEMY!" One of the many gnomes, Jeff, yelled. "WHAT BRINGS YOU HERE?"

"I LIVE HERE! YOU KNOW THAT!" Dipper stated, after a brief face palm.

A slight pause followed. "PFFT, YEAH, I KNOW! IT WAS MEANT FOR DRAMATIC EFFECT! YOU… YOU TOTALLY RUINED IT!" Jeff replied.

_Moron,_ I thought as Dipper continued, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? MABEL ISN'T EVEN HOME!"

"WE KNOW! WE CAME HERE FOR- ACK, ACK, HCK, HCKL, PTT, PTT! GRR, DARN FLIES! ALWAYS HAVE TO GO IN YOUR MOUTH AT THE WRONG TIME! NOW- WAIT, WHERE WAS I?"

"YOU CAME HERE FOR…"

"OH, RIGHT! WE COME HERE…FOR _YOUR_ QUEEN!"

"Dipper, what are they talking about?" I asked the big headed investigator.

"I… I don't know, actually." He replied, as puzzled as I was. "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"

"ISN'T IT OBVIOUS? THAT GIRL YOU'VE BEEN HANG AROUND WITH FOR THE LAST TWO DAYS! SHE'S OBVIOUSLY YOUR QUEEN! AND WE WANT TO KIDNAP HER TO MAKE HER OUR QUEEN! IT'S THE ULTIMATE REVENGE!"

"NO, THAT'S PRETTY STUPID! WENDY WENT BACK HOME HOURS AGO! YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT SHE LOOKS LIKE!"

"Wendy? The cash register girl Candace hangs around? Isn't she, like, three years older than you?" I asked him.

"Doesn't your friend Ferb like a girl whose four years older than him?"

"Hm. Touché."

"THE GINGER GIRL? NO, WE'RE NOT EVEN INTERESTED IN HER!"

"THEN WHO DO YOU WANT? THERE'S NO ONE ELSE I LIKE!"

"Alright, am I the _only_ one surprised about the existence of gnomes?" I asked, poking my head outside the window.

"THERE SHE IS!" Jeff shouted. The large "hand" of the giant gnome quickly headed toward the window, causing Dipper and me to leap to the side before the hand crashed. It broke the glass of the window, and I heard quite a couple of gnomes cry out in pain. Jeff shouted to walk it off, as some of the gnomes disbanded and scoped out the place. Dipper was trapped under a fallen book shelf, and I had my leg snagged under an old fortune machine. The assembly of about twelve gnomes only took two minutes before they found me. I tried to get my foot out, but the machine was too heavy. They yanked my foot out, grabbing me by my wrist and ankles, and pulled me to the bigger gnome. Once they had me in their "hand", the giant gnome began to stomp away. I shouted for Dipper, but I saw he only managed to scramble to the window before he disappeared from sight.

* * *

**Dipper's POV**

"Don't worry, Nicole, I'm coming!" I shouted through the window, not sure if she had heard me. I practically jumped down the stairs and came into the living room to find Stan and Ferb watching "Ducktective". "Are Phineas and Mabel still out?"

"Yeah, why do you care?" Stan replied, eating a bag of popcorn.

"What about Candace?"

"She went out with Wendy and a few of her friends five minutes ago. Now shut up, Ducktective's gathering the evidence in order to find out who shot K.S. or something. I've been switching between this and 'Austin' for the last ten minutes."

I groaned, and then pulled Ferb off to the side. I told him what happened, frantic beyond all reason. "You've got to help me!" I finished. Ferb stayed quiet for a moment.

"Yeah, ok." He told me.

Although I slightly raised my eyebrow at his calmness, Ferb and I started to head out to face the gnomes. I remembered to grab Journal 3, hiding it in my vest, while Ferb somehow had an expandable Bo staff in his pocket. _What's with these people and travel sized weaponry? _I thought, as Ferb and I hopped into the Shack's golf cart, speeding away into the woods.


	5. A Rescue (Sorta)

**Chapter 5: A Rescue (Sorta)**

**Nicole's POV**

Gnomes; of all the things I could have been captured by, it's gnomes.

I slightly sighed. This is probably one of my most embarrassing moments in my life.

The gigantic gnome (that somehow no one noticed) had me encased in its left hand. Jeff cleared his throat as he screamed, "SO… DO YOU LIKE THE VIEW?" I decided in my best interests not to reply. "UH… WE HAVE SOME NICE WEATHER OUT HERE, HUH?" More silence. "OKAY, SO YOU'RE NOT THE MOST TALKATIVE OF PEOPLE, I RESPECT THAT!"

I did react to this one; an eye roll. After this, Jeff decided to stay quiet. It was about then I noticed how the gnomes were interlocked. The collection was like those barrel monkeys' you'd play with if you were really bored; they all seemed to either grab their hands or legs. Maybe…

It was a long shot that it'd work, but I kicked one of the gnomes in the face.

"MY NOSE!" he said, kicking someone in the chin.

"MY CHIN!" he shouted, kicking another in his back.

"MY SPINE!" he cried, kicking someone else near their stomach.

"MY SPLEEN!" he hollered, kicking yet another, you get the idea. The gnomes slightly shifted. It gave me just enough wiggle room to sink down farther into the hand. I was deep inside the interconnecting gnomes until I found the bottom; my exit. I socked one of them in the jaw, causing him to unlock his hand, slip, and made the other gnomes try to save him from falling from a tall height. And, looking from out the space, I realized it was _tall. _We were probably full _stories_ higher than the trees. All that space between me and the ground…

I shook my head. If I didn't get out now, who knows what'll happen. I didn't have much time, either; Jeff saw what I was planning and I heard him order some of the others to get me. I whipped my head around to see the gnomes, maybe twenty or thirty of them, closing in. I looked down at the tree tops. The hole was just big enough for me to escape. Without thinking, I jumped down below.

"NO!" Jeff shouted, commanding the other gnome hand to grab me. Only a few of the gnomes got my shoe, but it easily slipped off, allowing me to continue free falling down. Before the other hand could get a hold of me, I entered head first in the trees.

When I got a little into the woods, I quickly got a hold of a thick tree branch. I got a brush burn for it, but at least now I was safe.

Well, _mostly_ safe.

"QUICKLY, WE HAVE TO FIND HER!" Jeff shouted. I saw the gigantic gnome disbanding.

_Uh-oh, _I thought, soon beginning to run through the trees for a hiding place.

* * *

_**Meanwhile…**_

**Dipper's POV**

Ferb and I pulled up when the giant gnome stopped in its tracks. _That's weird, _I thought, _it seems closer than last time._ Before I could really think about it, however, Ferb tapped my arm, gesturing to a clearing. He was about to go in, I following, when someone screamed, "QUICKLY, WE HAVE TO FIND HER!" It was Jeff. Did Nicole get out?

A pine cone hit the back of my head at that moment. I spun around to see Nicole was only a few branches above Ferb and me, mostly hidden under the cover of the tree tops.

"Nicole! Are you-?" I began to ask, only for her to shoot me a shut up gesture. She pointed toward the direction of the gnomes, and I saw they had begun to disassemble. Realizing what was going on, I turned to Ferb. He nodded as the two of us climbed the tree in next to Nicole.

"Don't worry, I'm fine," she assured me, whispering. "Our bigger problem here is with the gnomes."

"Yeah, they really don't understand when to quit; trust me, I should know." I whispered back. It was then I remembered the short section about Gnomes in my book. I got it out of my vest; maybe I forgot something about them…

A few seconds passed and Ferb slightly chuckled. "Do you two belong to a book club or something?" He remarked.

"Ferb, what are you-?" I began to ask, looking up from the Journal. When I looked over to Nicole, however, and I froze mid-sentence. She was holding a brown-red book. Not just any book, however, it was a journal.

Journal Number 1, to be exact.

* * *

**Nicole's POV**

"How'd you get that?" I heard Dipper ask, an unidentifiable tone in voice. I looked at him; his eyes were fully on the journal I was holding.

I scolded myself. Why would there be anything in a healing book about Gnomes?! Even so, why didn't I tell him earlier? He seems alright; maybe he would've understood. How was I going to explain _this _to him? That I found it in the woods?! That's ridiculous!

"I…uh…" I was thinking how to explain this to him, when my own glance fell on the book he was holding. It was near to identical to mine, except for the number 3 in the center. "Well, how'd you get that?"

"I… I asked you first!" He replied, sharpness in his in words.

We might have gotten into an argument then and there if a voice didn't proclaim "SHMEBULOCK!" as loud as it could. Dipper, Ferb, and I looked down and saw one of the gnomes, an old one, pointing up at us in the tree. Jeff, popping out of a bush, looked in our direction. "Good job, Shmebulock." Jeff thanked. Shmebulock once more said "Shmebulock" with a salute. "Gnomes, ADVANCE!" He commanded. Ferb, Dipper, and I gasped practically in unison as we began to run from the thousands of gnomes heading our way.

* * *

**Dipper's POV**

I'll admit that the Gnomes have gotten pretty fast.

I think they might have been taking daily runs or something, because they were almost on Nicole, Ferb, and yours truly in a matter of moments. Maybe they met up with the Manotaurs…

Not too long passed before gnomes began to fly through air, aimed at us. Ferb saw the first couple coming toward him and deflected them with his extended Bo staff. One of the gnomes snagged itself on my arm, but I simply punched him away. One or two got in Nicole hair, but she just jumped when there was a low hanging branch, knocking them out, causing them to fall. She also got her hands on quite a few acorns and launched them in a few gnomes' pants. A squirrel invaded each of the targeted.

"AH! THERE'S A SQUIRREL IN MY PANTS!" One of them shouted, the others also panicking.

I shook one off my leg as Nicole climbed up higher on the tree we were on. Ferb and I followed, but so did the gnomes. She looked back and saw they were still following, than jumped down a few branches to get closer to the ground. The same happened with this route as well. "WHAT ARE YOU (pant) EXACTLY EXPECTING TO HA- (pant) HAPPEN?" I asked, the jumping, running, and gnomes starting to tire me out.

"I DON'T (pant) KNOW, CONFUSE THEM?" She replied; she noticeable starting to wear out as well.

With the next step she took, Nicole fell, screaming.


	6. Jackalopes

**_A/N: Warning: the following chapter will contain violence._**

**Chapter Six: Jackalopes**

**No POV**

Nicole groaned as she got up. The branch she stepped on had rotted to a core, and with the slightest pressure it broke through. Nicole tried to stand, but a sharp pain in her ankle warned that wasn't the best idea.

She bit her lip to prevent a scream. She looked up and saw Dipper, Ferb, and the gnomes getting closer. _Can't stop here… Gotta keep running… _she thought as she started to limp away, though every other step gave a sharp jolt of pain. She might have not gone five feet before a pair of pearl white antlers displayed themselves.

The jackalope from the first day the Flynn-Fletchers had arrived popped its head above the grass. The creature's glance fell upon the girl, who hadn't noticed the rabbit-like creature yet. The jackalope soon saw that she was running from gnomes and, at least from the creature's perspective, two males.

It took only a few seconds before the jackalope darted out from the bushes, the spot of light brown scurrying under Nicole's feet, causing her to trip and had to catch herself on her bad ankle. Once more biting back a scream, she turned her head angrily to the side to spot the jackalope, running. Nicole's instinct was to follow the rabbit-like creature, _Alice in Wonderland_ style, which she listened to. Ferb and Dipper, though baffled at her new route, followed her anyway, as did the tidal wave of gnomes.

The jackalope lead her deep in the woods, to a part even Dipper didn't recognize. It was a set of two hills, surrounded by towering trees, the fading sunlight hitting it in such a way that it resembled a magical fairytale place. All around there were tons of jackalopes, all as fuzzy and adorable as the one Nicole followed. One was even chasing a butterfly up one of the hills! The jackalope, (who was unfazed of the wonderland that felt like it was covered in rainbows, unicorn barf, and Smile Dip) hopped over to an older, grey jackalope, most likely the leader. Through nose scrunches and blinking, the two seemed to talk briefly. Then, the older one nodded, blinking a command to a blonde jackalope behind him. The blonde nodded and hopped to a water pond, covered in water lilies and a baby blue. It drank a little of the water.

When it opened its mouth again, he cried an earsplitting yell.

All the jackalopes, Nicole, Ferb, Dipper, even the gnomes, snapped to attention. More of the clearly male jackalopes replied with the same earsplitting call, causing Nicole, Dipper, Ferb, and all the gnomes to cover their almost bleeding ear drums. The clearly female jackalopes gathered the smaller ones and herded them to inside the hills. However, the males, who now looked like beady eye demons, with jagged teeth nonetheless, began to run toward Dipper, Ferb, and the gnomes.

Dipper and Ferb split from the gnomes as the jackalopes also split off. One group, the larger one, charged toward the gnomes, while the small one headed toward Dipper and Ferb. The sky suddenly turned red and black as the jackalopes and Gnomes clashed. The jackalopes began to practically tear the gnomes from limb to limb. Teeth were littered on the ground, blood flew all around, and more than one gnome began barfing rainbows. The jackalopes following Dipper and Ferb were getting much less bloodshed, but that was only because Dipper and Ferb were still on their feet and running. Though that didn't mean they were unscathed; Ferb and Dipper still got quite a couple of bruises, claw marks, and both were starting to slow down. Nicole saw what was happening to the others and got the gold-eyed jackalope's attention.

"Don't attack the humans!" She told it. "They're my friends! We're cool!"

The gold-eyed jackalope, realizing the error, went by the blonde bunny and crinkled her nose a bit. The blonde bunny briefly shrieked something, and the jackalopes by Dipper and Ferb stopped. As the two boys began to regain breath, hunched over and panting, the small herd went by the gnomes. Only one remained behind briefly, using its long, (once precious) caramel ears to gesture that he'd be watching. Dipper and Ferb, still heavily panting, sore, and limping, went by Nicole and Gold-Eyes back to the right hill.

* * *

**Dipper's POV**

If someone told me today that I was going to be chased by fuzzy little demons, I would've asked if they had too much Smile Dip recently (seriously, there was a reason it was banned in America). But, sure enough, I was.

Of all the things I'd never think I'd see or experience, this is up there between meeting the ghost of Elvis singing "Disco Girl" with Michael Jackson in the background, and becoming a fan of Sev'ral Times (I mean, there's girly pop, and then there's _too _girly pop).

Some of the bruises were cleaned up by the female jackalopes, while the cuts were bathed in what looked like jackalope milk. Whatever it was, it worked fast. Most of my cuts and a few bruises were gone in seconds. Ferb, on my left, was given similar treatment, and Nicole, on my right, was getting a splint for her ankle. It wouldn't amount for much in the long run, but at least she wouldn't have that bad a limp. She was also flipping through a few pages in Journal 1.

"What's it about?" I asked, causing Nicole to look up.

"Well, from what I can gather, it's the weirdest medical handbook in the history of planet Earth." She replied, to which I slightly chuckled at. An awkward silence followed. "What… What about yours?"

I briefly forgot what she was talking about before I saw Journal 3 in the front of my feet. "Oh, it's about the monsters of this town, mostly." I replied. More silence followed.

"You're not going to turn me in to 'Them', right?" She asked suddenly.

"What?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I-," she began, then stopping. "Never mind; I was thinking of something else."

Though slightly curious at what she meant, I stayed quiet and decided to milk a conversation out of Ferb instead.

* * *

**Nicole's POV**

Yes, I still was vaguely suspicious of Dipper and 'Them' in an alliance. Not too much of Dipper, though; I was more concerned with Stan. It was in his shop I _so_ happened to find the book, and he was still looking for it. Call me paranoid, but I just didn't want to get killed.

When the last cut on Ferb healed, we headed out, as the Great Gnome and Jackalope battle had ended. I didn't know how bad it was, but there was a ton of blood…that the jackalopes were drinking. Oh great, as if I needed _more_ reason not to sleep tonight…

Gold-Eyes lead us back to where Dipper and Ferb had parked the Mystery Shack cart. It felt like hours, so I was surprised when it was still sunset, like when the boys left. With a blink, Gold-Eyes left, and Dipper started to drive back. There was a bit of silence.

"Never mention this again?" Ferb asked us.

"Agreed," We replied in unison.

_**A/N: Yeah, this was rather short. But don't worry, the plot will continue moving after this Gnome/Jackalope subplot next chapter.**_


	7. A Threat Revives

**Chapter Seven: A Threat Revives**

**Dipper's POV**

The day following the never-shall-be-mentioned-again event between Jackalopes and Gnomes, I was back to working in the Mystery Shack's Gift shop. Phineas and Mabel were somewhere with Waddles, Stan was scamming tourists, Soos was a part of the exhibit ("The Question Baby"), Nicole and Ferb were touring the town (trying to forget yesterday, most likely), and Candace and Wendy were talking. I was dusting off one of the displays when I saw, strangely enough, a copper colored chain with a darker llama charm. I looked around the shop; none of the items were the same as the necklace. _It's Mabel's, probably, _I thought. I was about to stuff it in my pocket when I remembered Mabel wasn't scrambling to find it this morning. If it was hers, she would be searching for it right at this moment, but she wasn't. If it wasn't hers, whose was it?

I was about to ask Wendy and Candace about it when someone walked through the door. I groaned; it was Robbie V., my least favorite human still in Gravity Falls. He was a pale, Goth teen, with a few pimples and a stubble of hair on his chin, a long nose, black hair that goes over an eye, dark brown eyes, silver piercings in his ear, and wore a black hoodie with the image of a bleeding red heart with stitches, black fingerless gloves, _way_ too skinny jeans, and black sneakers. Wendy groaned as well; the two broke up not too long ago, and it was a really bad one, too.

"S'up Wendy," he greeted, playing it smooth (though reeking of desperation), and then looked at Candace. "Whaddup… Giraffe Girl?"

Candace looked offended as Wendy snarled, "Her name's Candace. What do you want, Robbie?"

"_This _is Robbie?" Candace begrudgingly asked, to which Robbie cockily smiled, adding, "So I'm famous around here, huh?"

"Oh yeah," Candace remarked, "as the heartless boyfriend that doesn't have enough spine to even try to pass Wendy's dad in the street anymore."

"Hey, that dude's huge!" Robbie defended, but before losing his temper, cooled down. "Anyway, Wendy, I had an extra ticket to that new movie out and I was wondering if you would join me."

"No. Now get out of here before I have to carry you out!" Wendy threaten. "Oh, come on!" Robbie cried in desperation. "Wendy, I've given you flowers, invited you to concerts and road trips, even replicated famous 'Take Me Back!' movie scenes! Why can't we go back to dating?"

"Because you're a cold, unfeeling jerk, and I wish I never met you. Now get out!" Wendy said, beginning to raise her voice. Okay, I would be lying if I said I didn't start wildly grinning at the dusty knick-knacks.

"Come on, babe! I could have any other girl in this town-!" Wendy's eyes were now filled with anger.

"WHAT?!" She shouted. Robbie tried to stutter out an apology, but Wendy continued on. "YOU GET OUT HERE RIGHT NOW BEFORE I GRAB YOUR STUPID SKINNY JEANS AND POUR A GALLON OF HOT WATER ON THEM!"

Robbie, his cheeks a crimson, got the message and ran out there, slightly crying.

Wendy broke down in tears when he left, Candace comforting her. I stuffed the necklace in my short's pocket. It was for the greater good, I decided, and Candace's "glare-of-death" was extra reassurance I was doing the right thing.

* * *

"Wait, keep this one on!" Mabel said. "I love this show!"

"Yeah, Ferb, 'Why You Ackin' so Cray-Cray?' is awesome!" Phineas added.

"I guess it's better than 'The Duchess Approves'," Ferb shrugged. For some reason, Grunkle Stan ran in and said, "'The Duchess Approves' starring Sturly Stembleburgiss and Grampton St. Rumpterfrabble?!"

"…Yeah?" Ferb said. All of us were staring at him, even Waddles.

Grunkle Stan's eyes darted around for a moment. "You know, not that I care or anything." He looked at us a moment, with a few beads of sweat on his forehead. "Don't look at me like that!" He pointed an accusing finger at us as he ran to the kitchen. Mabel, Phineas, and Ferb's attention turned back to the television as I looked around the room.

"Hey, where's Nicole?" I asked.

"I think she's on the roof," Mabel answered, then asking, "Why?"

I looked at Ferb; we hadn't told Phineas or Mabel about yesterday, not that we planned to.

"So, what's this show about, anyway?" Ferb asked Mabel. I heard Phineas comment that Ferb was "awfully chatty today" with Mabel explaining the show they were watching. I snuck up to the roof using Wendy's secret entrance and found Nicole sitting on the edge of the hideaway. I cleared my throat, making her turn around.

"Hey," she greeted.

"You don't seem very surprised to see me." I remarked.

"Figured you or Ferb would find me sooner or later." I sat next to her as she opened the ice chest, asking, "Want a drink?"

"Yeah, thanks." I accepted a Pitt from her. Nicole took a sip of her drink. There was a silence before she looked down.

"What's that?" She asked, pointing to my pocket. I looked down and noticed the llama necklace I found earlier was poking out. I pulled it out, replying, "Oh, just something I spotted earlier. I really don't know what to do with it."

"Could I have it?" Nicole asked. I gave her a confused look, as she never seemed interested in jewelry, so she took off rope holding a vial of jackalope milk she had…"acquired" a day earlier. "The rope's really frayed; I need something stronger so the vial won't fall and break."

"Sure; I think it should fit." I said, giving it to her. Nicole removed the flask from the worn out rope and slipped it on the metal chain. She had a little trouble fixing the clasp around her neck, so I clicked it on for her. A moment of silence followed; apparently I wasn't the only person in this town who sucked at small talk.

"Dipper," Nicole said, "I'm sorry."

"…For what?" I asked her.

"I never apologized for…you know…threatening you with an arrow the first time we met." She explained, slightly smiling at the thought. I chuckled at the memory as well; to think, that happened only five days ago.

"It's fine." I forgave. It then reminded me about something. "Who _was _the other person you threaten, anyhow?"

She laughed. "Trust me, it's a long story, and I'm starting to get cold. Can we go inside first?" She asked, standing up before offering me her hand. I smiled, accepting.

* * *

**No POV**

After the two preteens entered into the building, Mabel (hiding at the foot of the ladder) loudly inquired, "HOW'S IT GOING?" This frightened Dipper and caused Nicole to try (and fail) biting back a giggle. Mabel also chuckled, adding, "Wow, Dipper, you look as red as you did when you had to perform the Lamby-Lamby Dance in front of Wendy!"

"The 'Lamby-Lamby Dance'? What's that?" Nicole asked. Despite Dipper's hand gestures to Mabel to drop the subject, she proceeded on, "It's an embarrassing dance my brother does occasionally. I got it on video! You wanna see!?"

Nicole wiped a fake tear from her eye. "This is the first time I think we've connected. Let's watch it!" Nicole proclaimed.

"NO!" Dipper shouted, epic-dramatic movie style, as the video played. Nicole began laughing hysterically, shouting, "PHINEAS, FERB! YOU'VE _GOT _TO SEE THIS!"

* * *

_**Meanwhile…**_

In the Gravity Falls Maximum State Prison, a white-haired boy by the name of Gideon Gleeful paced in his cell. While he interacted with prisoners on his hit TV show, was deemed too unstable, mentally, at least, to have a cell mate, so he had a lot of time to think. And all the time, one name flashed in his mind:

Pines_._

To say he the loathed the Pines family was a _gross_ understatement. Stanford was his business rival and the reason of both his jail time and now disgraced name in Gravity Falls. Stan was second on his to-kill list, closely following Dipper Pines, his mortal enemy. God, just _thinking_ that infernal boy's name made Gideon want to punch something with all his might! Dipper had bested him too many times (technically, it was only a few times, but to Gideon that was one time too many), and worst of all, Dipper still had Journal Number 3 in his possession.

That's right, Gideon knew about the Journals. In fact, before he was arrested, he owned one: Journal 2. That was taken away by Stanford (as if he needed more reasons to hate him), and God knows where Number 1 was. It was Journal 2 that gave him his magic powers, and made him famous. And he could have used them to get his true love, the light of his life, the apple of his eye, his queen, Mabel Pines!

Just as Gideon was plotting his one hundredth plot of revenge against the Pines, time seemed to slow down. Gideon could feel it; the guard outside his cell chewed his gum slower, a fight was pausing, and everything was starting to turn a grey. Gideon froze. It wasn't…

Speak of the Devil; a familiar yellow triangle suddenly appeared in Gideon's cell.

"Bill!" The boy gasped, not believing his eyes.

"No, the Queen of England," the demon sarcastically remarked. "But thank you for stating the obvious, Captain."

Gideon raised his eyebrow briefly before remembering what that monster got him into. Bill failed him, which caused him to eventually get here. "What do you want, Spirit?" Gideon spat, though in the back of his mind he slapped himself mentally.

"Do you remember when we first met, Gideon?" Cipher questioned, hands behind his back, looking outside the barred window.

"Yes." The 'psychic' replied, harsher then he wanted; Bill was a powerful demon, after all. "Why-?"

"Do you remember what I said? About you owing me a favor after our arrangement?" Bill interrupted.

Gideon, annoyed, answered, "Yes, but-!"

"Well, today that favor shall be cashed in!" Bill announced, happily. That just made Gideon madder than he already was.

"IF YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED, I'M IN PRISON!" Gideon yelled at the pyramid. "ALL BECAUSE OF AN AGREEMENT YOU DIDN'T FULFILL! AND THAT'S GOING TO BE JUST A 'LIL OL' PROBLEM NOW, WON'T IT?!" After realizing what he'd done, Gideon looked at Bill fearfully, knowing the demon's insane behavior.

Instead, the demon just snapped, "I know that! But let's not forget- I'm in my domain now." At first, Gideon didn't understand what that meant, but after a moment…

"You… You've invaded my mind," The boy realized, to which Bill rolled his eye in response.

"Congratulations, you've just got promoted to Major, Captain Obvious!" The demon sneered. "If you please, I have to go somewhere else after this, so let's get a move on." Bill extended his hand, Gideon copying forcefully.

Without warning, the glass shattered. The once paralyzed guard now reacted as slowly as the glass that was heading toward him. A few people gradually fell back from the force of the explosion and others took forever to look up. Unhurried bullets tried to reach the two of them, but they just casted a simple shield spell before it even came close. A few inmates looked like they were cheering the child on, but their cheers were muted in this world. Soon, without even trying, the two villains got back Gideon's regular baby blue suit, black shirt, white tie, and brown shoes that lost their sheen after sitting in a locker. Gideon quickly dressed and noticed when he put his hand in his pocket, there was a bus ticket.

The two walked out the building, without a problem. Bill floated near Gideon to the almost deserted bus station, where a nearly empty bus had pulled up. The duo got on, Gideon sitting at a window seat.

"See you soon, Six Pointed Star." Bill cryptically stated, vanishing soon after. Gideon opened his eyes; everything was back to normal, though the disgraced star now had more questions than answers.

He frowned. If Bill was to return to him, Gideon would make him rue the day he failed him.


	8. An Unnerving Dream

_**A/N: And so our story continues…only to come back to a grinding halt. Yeah, I'm not gonna lie, most of this is just set up for something much later. It also explains Nicole's backstory, but, really, the only thing essential to the plot NOW the last thing Bill says, and the non-italicized part.**_

**Chapter Eight: An Unnerving Dream**

**Nicole's POV**

_I awoke in a white room, alone. Well, there were mirrors, but that's about it. I stood up; Man, it was dizzying to even _move_ in here. I had to grasp the side of my head just to make sure my brain didn't fall out. Weirdly enough, after I blinked, I was in a circle of the mirrors; six, if I remember correctly. Suddenly, after another blink of my eyes, a familiar yellow triangle appeared in one of them._

"_It's…you!" I proclaimed, mentally face palming. Really, that was the best I could think up?_

"_Wow, you'd think someone'll learn your name after almost two weeks of dreams…" The triangle-man said._

"_Hey, Dipper said your name, like, one time, sue me!" I defended._

"_Yet you learned his name? Tsk, tsk." He shook his head in a mock disapproving manner._

"_I've lived with the guy for five days now! I'd learn it eventually!" I explained._

"_Man, you have an awful habit of living with people outside your family, don't you?" The Triangle spun around in the mirrors. "The Flynn-Fletchers, the Pines, who's next, the Kennedys?"_

"_Hey!" I began, though stopping. "How-how'd you know I lived with Phineas and Ferb? I… I haven't even told you my _name_ yet!"_

"_On the contrary, Nicole Katherine Bonabel," He said my name in an almost mocking tone. "I know everything about you."_

_At first, my hands got a little clammy, but I realized that this guy probably was just all talk; how was he supposed to know everything if he always asked the date? "Really?" I crossed my arms. "Prove it, then."_

"_Well, your mother died when you were born on October 28__th__, twelve years ago…" He began; I scoffed. Medical records, no doubt._

"…_You come from a rough home life, where your father was a drunk. After your brother was arrested, you ran away in hopes of a better life…" Police and Child Services records…but how was he able to get them?_

"…_You met Phineas and Ferb in the forest while on running away to Danville's train station…" Only the Flynn-Fletchers and my brother, Patrick, knew that! When the boys and I arrived in Danville, I made them promise to never tell anyone of my…current situation. People still think I'm a runaway, nowhere to be found. Patrick knows this, too, and he'd never rat me out like that. Has this guy been following me or something?_

"…_You hoped when you get to your original destination, Boston, you'd stow away on a ship to France so you could live with your Aunt…" I've only told that to Patrick and Phineas! They wouldn't blab that!_

…_Would they?_

"…_You're secretly a huge fan of classical music…" Okay, I have never told ANYONE that._

_He might have told my whole life story if I hadn't cut him off. "Alright, alright, I get it! You win!"_

_The demon crossed his arms. "Ha! Please, if I won, you'd be dead right now." He replied; I prayed to God that I didn't just pale. "No, that will come at a later time. For now, however, I need you alive."_

"_For what, to see how long before you can drive me insane?" I joked, though half-heartily._

"_Actually, that's exactly why!" The demon (he still hadn't told me his name…) said. When he noticed that I might have turned so pale I was Ferb's skin tone, he added, "But again, that'll come later."_

"_Then… Why am I here?" I asked. It wasn't until I hit a mirror that I noticed that I knew I was backing away from the ghost…demon…whatever it was._

"_Again, I'm going to need you alive at the present moment." He made the mirrors vanish as he spoke, though in his physical form he made himself much larger. "You see, I'm about to cause a disturbance. A fracas, if you're one of those people. You are one of my many participants. I know you are rather… How do I say? …'ill-experienced', in this field. And I know a lot of things. Since I need you alive for later, I'll give you a piece of advice: if you attempt to…'eliminate' yourself from my plan, even consider it for a moment…well, you _really_ don't want to know."_

_I gave him a confused look, beginning to ask, "Why… What…?"_

"_Oh, gosh darn it; I have some arrangements to do!" He exclaimed, even throwing in a disappointed arm swing. "See you soon, Bonabel!"_

"_What… Who are you?!" I asked._

_The demon stopped for a moment. He slightly laughed. "You'll learn soon enough…"_

_In the resulting flash of light, he called me an odd name:_

"…_Llama."_

* * *

**Dipper's POV**

"Nicole," Phineas said, tapping the girl on her arm with a fork. "Nicole…Nicooole…Nicole!"

At the last one, Nicole looked up. She had been silent all morning, just picking at her pancakes. Phineas, Mabel, and I had finished a syrup race (Mabel won. Darn you, Sir Syrup!), when the red-head noticed his friend's despondent mood.

"Are you okay?" Mabel asked; I noticed she and Phineas had the same sixth sense that told them when something was wrong.

"Fine, fine," Nicole replied. _She's lying_, I knew. I noticed a while back whenever she lied, she always twitched her fingers.

…What? She lied a lot; I was _bound _to notice it.

Phineas noticed it as well (maybe even seeing the same nervous tick), but I guess living with her makes it easier to know what subjects to avoid. Mabel just shrugged, though vaguely aware she was lying as well.

If I was about to ask Nicole something, I forgot what it was when the radio was turned on by Grunkle Stan. I only heard one sentence:

"_Breaking News: The fraud child psychic, Gideon Charles Gleeful, or 'Lil Gideon', as he's better known, has escaped Gravity Falls Maximum State Penitentiary."_


	9. A Plan's Beginnings

**Chapter Nine: A Plan's Beginnings**

**Dipper's POV**

Mabel dropped Sir Syrup in the silence that followed.

"Gideon?" Phineas asked. Mabel shook her head and told him, "I'll explain it later."

The radio rambled on about Gideon as I left the Shack to make sure the stuffy air wasn't making me go crazy. Gideon escaped?! Of all the things that could go wrong today, why did it have to be THAT?! Gideon had tried to kill me, hurt my family, steal the Shack, and even send us home! Now that he was out of jail, most likely wanting revenge… The idea made me shudder.

After a while, I ran into a brown logged building. When I looked up (rubbing one of my cheeks), I was surprised to see I ended up at the Diner, near the entrance. Looking into the window of the door, I saw Nicole, looking out a window. Entering myself, I asked her, "Are you expecting someone?" She turned her head.

"No, you can sit," she told me. I sat across from her as Lazy Susan came by.

"What'll you kids have?" Lazy Susan asked, smile on her face, that creepy lazy eye staring at me.

"Just some water," Nicole said; I asked for the same. Susan was getting our drinks when I asked Nicole why she snuck over here.

"I dunno." She shrugged. "Something just told me to come here."

"Same," I told her. A silence followed.

"How's your ankle?" I asked; Ferb made her a better splint so the others wouldn't notice. She replied it was fine as Susan gave us our drinks, followed with another short silence.

"Who's Gideon Gleeful, anyway?" Nicole asked, taking a sip of her water.

"Trust me, it's a long story." I replied, grabbing the water myself. It was then I had strangest idea that something was in the glass. It didn't look off; I just had this feeling inside that screamed to throw it out the window.

"So… Can I hear it or are you going to stare your water all day?" Nicole was beginning to stare.

I blinked my eyes, taking a sip of my water before starting the story about Gideon. It was probably nothing.

* * *

**Unknown's POV**

_**Log 48, Entry 1:**_

_**I've begun to collect all the subjects.**_

_**9:59 a.m.: Subjects 'Pine Tree' and 'Llama' took the first sips of the Ether. 'Pine Tree' looked suspicious, but Cipher numbed common sense section of brain, and Ether was still drunk. Cipher complained that he could have just as easily knocked them out; 'less hazardous' as well. I ignored this to focus on my job. Subjects received the bill for drinks; ran out without paying the $8.50 soon after the waitress turned around.**_

_**10:03 a.m.: Subjects 'Shooting Star' and 'Glasses' received next batch of Ether. Cipher repeatedly hit the back of my head with a ping pong ball. Said ping pong ball is now locked in my drawer; Cipher is still angry at me. Subjects paid bill and left establishment.**_

_**12:00 p.m.: Subject 'Ice Bag' received Ether in burger. Tear strained; another person was with patient. Not a part of experiment, but didn't seem to cause harm. Soon it became another dine-and-dash from lack of cash.**_

_**12:45 p.m.: Subject 'Question Mark' received Ether. Subject was given a free meal because he saved a man from choking.**_

_**1:01 p.m.: **__**Oh, look at me! I look so serious with a little note pad and stalker cameras! God, I can be such an idiot sometimes! Why don't I listen to that smart and charming Bill Cipher next time? **__**Stole back note pad from Cipher; currently filling out entry in a bathroom stall. Bill claims he'll find me, but will most likely get bored after a few minutes and return to…whatever he's doing. Subjects 'Crescent' and 'Stitched Heart' received Ether. 'Crescent' was also wary to the Ether in food, but either didn't notice and/or care. 'Crescent' also dine-and-dashed, this time after dropping magic powder on the ground before jumping out the window, while the other paid.**_

_**10:58 p.m.: Subject 'Six Point Star', after many hours of long (particularly boring) wait, received last of Ether. Diner about to close; Subject seemed like they didn't much care for probably cold coffee.**_

_**I am now beginning Operation: Collection, Part II.**_

* * *

_**Some Time Later…**_

**No POV**

In an unknown location, Bill Cipher and another person, covered by the appearance of a chair, were sitting in front several monitors. In the monitors, there were several locations throughout the city of Gravity Falls, including the closed Tent of Telepathy, The Mystery Shack, Main Street, the Diner, so on. Bill didn't look happy.

"Come on, let's get them in here! I'm starting to get restless!" Bill complained. The man in the chair rolled his eyes, replying, "Patience, Cipher, patience. We need them to be a little more isolated first."

"Agh!" Cipher groaned, "You and your waiting! I've been waiting for _decades_ now! I'm sick and tired of it!"

The man slightly smiled, biting back a tease. "Don't worry, Cipher; soon your waiting will pay off. The fireworks will begin in three…two…one…"

The man pressed a glowing red button on the table.

The effect was almost simultaneous. Nine people, all littered throughout the city, suddenly fell on the ground, unconscious. Others around them (except for 'Six Pointed Star'; he was alone), gathered around. They felt for pulse and breath; soon realizing they were alive, and after sighing in relief, the groups of townsfolk around the four subjects in town asked around to see who the sleeping person was. Each of them was identified, and authorities were notified for those said people. Four of other the patients, who were near their home, were carried to their beds, soon left alone to sleep in peace. Ambulances picked up four other subjects, and they were admitted in the hospital. The final victim stayed in his spot, no one around for miles, in cold, wet grass. The man smiled, pleased of the plan's success so far.

"Cipher, collect our…'volunteers', if you please," He instructed the demon, to which Bill replied with a salute before vanishing. The man continued to smile evilly.

_Operation Cipher Wheel is ready to begin._

* * *

_**A little while later, inside the Mystery Shack…**_

"Candace, can you check up on the kids? They've been asleep for a while…"

"Alright; they're probably just tired, Mom."

…

"*gasp* MOM, DAD!"

"Candace, what is it? You look like you just saw a ghost!"

"It's the kids! They… THEY'RE GONE!"


	10. Operation: Cipher Wheel Begins

_**A/N: Sorry about not posting yesterday! Things got a little complicated, so I wasn't able to. But, with that said, let the plot finally continue on!**_

**Chapter Ten: Operation: Cipher Wheel Begins**

**No POV**

Dipper woke up, a throbbing headache the only thing telling him he was alive. He groaned, soon standing up, to which he found out his right leg was not working. He fell back on the ground, a few leaves falling off his hair. The ground was smooth and cold, like dark granite.

"Dipper?!" a familiar voice asked, half relieved, half scared. He looked up to find…

"Mabel!" He shouted. Dipper forced himself up as he looked at his frightened sister. Her shooting star raspberry sweater was slightly torn, her light purple skirt had a few patches of dirt, and her hair was covered in leaves. Dipper tried to go toward her, but his feet seemed glued to their spot. Mabel tried the same, but no luck. Another moan was heard, near Mabel this time. She turned her head to her side.

"Nicole?" She gasped. Indeed, it was the Native American, also covered in leaves and dirt.

"What happened?" Nicole asked, rubbing her head, looking at her two companions. The two shrugged, another moan was heard, along with, "I didn't take it! I'm innocent!"

"Grunkle Stan?" Dipper said. The Grunkle stood up, in the same state as others.

One by one, others stood up. First it was Soos. Then it was Wendy. Then (with a groan from Wendy and Dipper), Robbie recovered. Then, with her eyes becoming wide, Nicole saw it was…

"Phineas?!" she gasped, seeing the familiar red fiery hair. The inventor saw the others, and spoke the obvious question on everyone's mind: "What the heck's going on here?!"

"Dipper Pines!" another voice angrily announced. The big headed investigator froze. He'd recognize that Southern accent anywhere. He turned around, only for his fears to be confirmed true: Gideon was just across from him, fuming. Nicole coughed, commenting, "Wow, would it _kill _you not to wear a bucket of hairspray? I can smell it from here!"

"Stay out of this, girl!" Gideon yelled at her. It looked like everyone was about to get in a huge dispute when a lightning bolt cracked thunder. Everyone's eyes turned to the center of the room to reveal the all-too familiar Bill Cipher.

"Man, I've always wanted to do that…" Bill thought aloud, then greeted in an upbeat tone, "Hello and welcome, everybody! Bill Cipher's the name. I assume you all know each other?"

"Actually…" Robbie began.

"Great! So we can begin!" Bill ignored.

"Begin what?!" Wendy asked; it was the beginning of many questions. "Who are you?! What do you want?! Why are you doing this?! How are you-?!"

"Ice Bag, you're beginning to annoy me." Bill once again interrupted. He snapped his fingers and Wendy's mouth had completely vanished. Her hands scrambled to where her mouth was, mumbling in panic as Bill asked, "Does anyone have any more questions?"

Everyone had a billion questions on their minds, yet shook their heads. "Good," The demon said, bringing back Wendy's mouth. Then, he began like an announcer, "and let me be the first to say, 'Congratulations'!"

'_Congratulations'? _Everyone thought in unison, but Cipher continued: "Yes, congratulations! All of you were selected to participate in the test run of Operation: Cipher Wheel!"

_Cipher Wheel… That sounds familiar… _Dipper pondered. Bill, not noticing/caring about Dipper, continued on, "I bet all of you are wondering what 'Operation: Cipher Wheel' is? That's the best part! You get to find out as it happens! I know, I know, you don't have to thank me!" Before anyone could ask questions, the demon began to chant a foreign language even the most experienced of linguists couldn't comprehend. As this was begin chanted, certain objects in the room began to glow a bright orange. The shooting star on Mabel's sweater; the stitched heart on Robbie's sweatshirt; Phineas' pocket, which after taking out the contents, turned out to be a photograph of someone wearing glasses; Soos' question mark; something in Wendy's pocket glowed, and when she took it out, it was a coupon for ice; the symbol on Stan's fez; the pine tree on Dipper's hat; a mysterious six pointed star on Gideon's palm that suddenly appeared; a ginormous hand glowed in the only empty spot; and something glowed around Nicole's neck, and when she took it out, it was the llama necklace Dipper gave her not one night ago.

_Oh my God. _Nicole realized, horrified. _He…he _IS _working for 'Them'!_

"See you on the other side!" Cipher laughed insanely. The nine unwilling participates screamed as they dropped down into the nothingness that just opened under their feet.

* * *

Dipper rubbed his head as he stood up, dirt under his feet. He wiped off his knees as another silhouette emerged from the smoke. Dipper was slightly afraid of who it was before he saw a familiar black braid.

"Oh, thank God, it's only you." Dipper sighed, relieved, offering to help up Nicole. She waved a hand in rejection and got up on her own, stretching her back. Nicole looked around. "Where's everyone else?" she asked, stating the obvious elephant in the room.

Dipper looked around as well; indeed, none of the others were with them. The only other items in the room were two backpacks, one olive green and the other a light blue.

"I guess we're in this alone," Dipper shrugged, grabbing the two bags. He offered one to Nicole as he said, "At least you're not the worst company."

She seized the green bag from Dipper as she said, "The feeling's mutual," though her tone suggested otherwise. A hallway appeared before them. Considering there were no other doors, Dipper asked Nicole, "What do you think's beyond there?"

Nicole shrugged. "I guess we're about to find out."

* * *

Phineas and Mabel got up simultaneously, groaning. They looked at each other for a millisecond before Mabel engulfed the Flynn in a bear hug.

"God, I am _so _sorry if Dipper and I somehow got you and Nicole into this!" She apologized.

"It's fine, Mabel; I don't think it's either one of your faults." Phineas assured, running out of oxygen. Mabel released him right before Phineas noticed the bags and the entrance way. The bags were identical to Nicole and Dipper's, only one was pink and the other red. Phineas instantly grabbed the red one and practically ripped it open. He grabbed a huge coil of rope and tied an end around his waist.

"Whatcha doin' there, Phineas?" Mabel asked the red head, head turned to the side.

"Do you know the legend of the Minotaur?" Phineas asked, tying the other end around a boulder, to which Mabel nodded. "Well, remember what Theseus did in order to find his way out of the maze?"

"Tie the thread around his waist?" Mabel asked as a response.

"Bingo!" Phineas smiled. "So, just in case we get lost in…whatever this is, we just follow the rope back!"

"Whoa! That's crazy! I was thinking the exact same idea you just had!" Mabel proclaimed, tying a rope around her own waist and the same boulder as Phineas did. "I love the Greek myths just like you, too! It's sorta, like, meant to be or something!" She blinked her eyes flirtatiously, hoping he'd take the hint.

Of course, Phineas stayed oblivious as always. "That's awesome that you read the Greek myths! I didn't think many kids were into that anymore! What's your favorite myth? Mine is Daedalus and Icarus! No, it's the myth of Tantalus! No, it's the story of Hephaestus! No, it's-!"

Phineas continued to list myths as Mabel frowned. Getting his attention, she realized, was _not_ going to be easy.

* * *

Robbie got up and stretched his back. _Great, _he thought, _taken by a triangle man and now stranded in a random cave. How can this get any worse?_

A feminine voice moaned, causing Robbie to turn his head. It was revealed to be Wendy, wiping dirt off her shirt. Robbie sighed; if he was going to get Wendy back, he might as well start trying to be better.

"Hey," he asked, extending his hand, "you okay?"

Wendy scowled at the sight of him. "Fine," she spat, getting up.

Robbie sighed. "Look, I messed up big time. I lay awake at night thinking about it. But can you find it in your heart to…you know…take me back?"

There was a brief silence before another voice broke it. "S'up, dudes?" Soos candidly asked, before noticing the bags. "Whoa, dudes! We're going on a road trip! I love road trips!"

Robbie frowned before seeing Wendy grab a red flannel backpack. She headed to the entrance of whatever Cipher had planned, telling Soos to follow her. Soos did, blissfully unaware of current events, grabbing a teal bag, recalling all of the trips he went on.

The emo teen sighed before grabbing a black bag, following his two companions.

* * *

Stan landed masterfully on his feet, almost as if he'd anticipated this happening. His partner Gideon, however, was less graceful, landing flat on his face. Seeing his companion, Gideon got up promptly and began, "Well, well, Stanford Pines! I should have guessed that I would have gotten stuck with a-!"

"Shut up, Gideon." Stan ordered, looking around the cave. Gideon looked appalled at Stan's tone. "What did you-?"

Stan suddenly glared at Gideon with daggers. "Shut. Up. Gideon." Stan's voice wasn't even that loud, but Gideon bit on his tongue. This wasn't the Stan he knew. This was someone…some_thing _else.

Stan's eyes locked onto the yellow pack that was there, grabbing it as he mumbled something about how he should have seen this coming. He made his way to the designated entrance, tossing the other baby blue pack to the child 'physic' with him, instructing, "Stay close."

Gideon's jaw dropped at Stan's weird new behavior. However, it didn't stop Gideon from following his business rival.

In fact, it gave him extra motivation.


	11. Into the Rabbit Hole

_**A/N: Hi! Okay, I'm going to be changing the posting dates of my story. It's now only going to be Tuesdays only, as I need more time to write the next chapters.**_

**Chapter Eleven: Into the Rabbit Hole**

**Nicole's POV**

God, I was such an idiot!

How could I not seeit? Of course Dipper was a part of 'Them'! He gained just enough of my trust to trick me into asking for that llama necklace!

Though I was still angry at Dipper, I decided to keep him around. I knew he still had the Number 3 book with him. He said that it contained information about the monsters, and he must have had some experience facing these creatures face-to-face. And if I had trouble with freaking GNOMES, I was going to need all the help all I could get.

The entrance closed behind us when we passed through the doorway, making it pitch black. Light returned a few seconds later when Dipper turned on a flashlight.

"Carry it with me, just in case," he explained, seeing my raised eyebrow.

I didn't reply as we headed forward. A few minutes passed as we arrived in a new room. It was big, and from the light of the flashlight, bare to the bone. In fact, the only thing in there was a hole, which we went up to. It was very dark and deep; I threw in a rock I had in my shoe, and we didn't even hear it hit the bottom. On the other side of the room was another entryway, similar to the one we had just gone through.

Dipper spoke after a moment. "Wow. Bill didn't even make this a hard choice. Come on; if the rest of the choices are like this, we'll be able to leave in twenty minutes." We began to head toward the hallway before a gold blur whipped by before heading into the hole. I turned just in time to see it was a jackalope; Gold-Eyes.

"Dipper, did you see that?" I asked him.

"You mean the jackalope?" He asked in response. I nodded as he answered, "Yeah, why?"

"I think we should follow it," I told him; for some reason, I felt like Gold-Eyes was leading me somewhere.

"What? Nicole, that's a terrible idea!" Dipper responded, almost horrified at my suggestion. "You saw how deep that think is, and God knowswhat's at the bottom! Let's just stick to the hallway."

"Dipper, we're following the jackalope." I more ordered than suggested now; I _knew _Gold Eyes was leading me somewhere now, with Dipper's reaction. He didn't want me to see what was down there; maybe it was a part of a plan for 'Them'…

"Nicole, we don't have time to for this!" Dipper grabbed my wrist. "Let's just-."

I didn't let him finish. I slipped my hand out of his (rather weak) grip and ran to the hole. Before he could even shout my name, I jumped down, not a moment's second thought.

**Dipper's POV**

"NICOLE!" I shouted as the Native-American was plunging into the darkness. What was going on with her?! One moment, she's the girl I talked to last night, the next she's the girl that threatened to kill me with an arrow! I just didn't get it! I shined my light inside the hole just to see a flash of raven hair disappear. I sighed; I really didn't have a choice.

I jumped down after her.

* * *

**No POV**

Mabel and Phineas appeared in a room that might have been M. C. Escher's kindergarten doodle. It was filled with many different doors, all different sizes, colors, and shapes. Besides that, it was surrounded by tan and red polka dots. On a dark wood table in the center of the room, there were twelve silver keys, four bronze keys, a gold key, and a small saw. Phineas tried one of the larger doors, only to find it locked.

"Dang, this could take hours!" Mabel complained, picking up one of the silver keys.

"Hmm…" Phineas put his hand on his chin. "There's a trick here, but I can't figure it out…"

"Hey Phineas, look!" Mabel shouted, causing Phineas to turn. She had grabbed some of the silver keys and, using the lock sets, created a smiley face, nose and eyes included.

"Mabel, you're a genius!" Phineas smiled.

"Finally, my arts and crafts skills are recognized!" Mabel smiled back. "Admittedly, not my best work, but it's a start."

"Hey Mabel, can you hand me the bronze keys?" Phineas asked, using the remainder of the silver keys already. Phineas' structure resembled a staircase.

"Uh…sure," Mabel handed Phineas the keys. "But if you're trying to make a smiley face of your own, you're really off."

"What?" Phineas was standing on the top of the recently placed silver keys. "Oh, no, I'm not making a face. But your key design did give me an idea. Look!" He pointed up to a triangle shaped door with a gold knob. "We can use the keys like stairs!"

"Oh, I get it now!" Mabel followed his example and began to climb up his makeshift staircase. Phineas reached the top and asked Mabel for the gold key. She snagged the key and threw it up to Phineas, who caught it and proceeded to open the door. He slipped through the oddly shaped door and then asked, "Can I get the saw?"

Mabel complied, handing him the rusty saw. He faced the opposite of Mabel and began to saw open an entryway. Once complete, Phineas offered his hand. Mabel slightly blushed, smiling as she accepted. He pulled her up as he said, "Come on, last one to the end is a rotten egg!" He let go of her hand almost instantly as he began to crawl down the tight space they were in.

Though slightly disappointed, Mabel followed his lead.

* * *

Awkward silence between Robbie, Wendy, and Soos followed to the room they entered. It was a forest, the overwhelming scents of Pine and Oak reminding each of them of home. They continued along a rugged, dirt path until it separated in front of an oak, two arrows being nailed up to the tree, pointing right and left.

"We should go right," Robbie said, looking down a smoother path. "The smoother road could mean a town or something."

"No, we should go left," Wendy argued, looking down a rougher path. "My dad's been a woodsman my whole life. I know the woods a lot better than you do."

"Wendy, a rougher path means it goes deeper in the woods, something we don't need right now." Robbie countered, heading toward the right road. "Come on."

"Oh, so you _suddenly_ know everything about the forest, huh?" Wendy's fists were clenched as she turned to Soos. "Soos, who do think's right: an arrogant jerk who wears mascara on a regular basis, or the daughter of a lumberjack?"

"It's eye paint for men! God, how many times do I explain that?!" Robbie defended, denying the fact he wears women's makeup.

"Until they _invent _eye paint for men," Wendy crossed her arms.

The two got into an argument on which way to go. Soos, meanwhile, noticed a blur of yellow in one of the trees. Curious, Soos decided to investigate. When he got towards the area, an aura of gold caught his eye. It was revealed to be a fat cat. It had purple and violet stripes with mismatched eyes. The cat was resting nonchalantly on a tree branch as Soos inquired, "S'up?"

"The girl's right," the cat stated, though it was not the answer Soos aimed for. "Go down the boy's path and you'll go in circles."

There was a moment of silence. "Cool. Thanks!" Soos waved good-bye, surprisingly not questioning why the purple cat could talk; not even why the cat was _purple _to begin with. He went by the still arguing Wendy and Robbie and said, "This way, dudes!"

"Ha!" Wendy laughed, pleased that Soos chose her path. "Soos, why are you agreeing with Wendy?" Robbie demanded.

"Cause the magic cat told me to!" Soos decided that was the best explanation to give. Robbie was about to gesture to Wendy that Soos must have been crazy, but she had already descended on her path, smugly grinning. Soon, Robbie, though begrudgingly, was jogging to catch up.

* * *

Stan and Gideon (who was keeping his distance) finally reached their room. It was circled with doors, almost all the same size except for the final one, barely bigger than a candle you'd see in church. There was a table in the middle of the room, a dark brown; on it, there was a small key, a small white cake that said in a fancy green script "_Eat Me", _and a dark liquid in a small vial that said _"Drink Me" _on a small label. Stan scoffed.

"This is our big test?" He said, then turning to the ceiling. "Brilliant, Bill! At this rate, we'll leave in ten minutes!"

Stan picked up the cake and the key and put it inside his pocket. He uncapped the bottle and handed it to Gideon. "Take a sip."

"What _is_ that?" Gideon almost gagged at the foul stench of the liquid, Stan neither noticing and/or caring. "Something to get us out of here," the old man answered. "Just hold your breath and drink."

"No." Gideon crossed his arms.

Stan groaned. "Kid, we don't have time for this. Just drink it!"

"No!"

"Gideon, listen…!"

"NO! YOU LISTEN! I HAVE NO IDEA HOW I GOT HERE, BUT YOU SEEM TO KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS PLACE! I WANT ANSWERS! AND I REFUSE TO LEAVE WITHOUT THEM!"

"This isn't the best time! Look, I'll explain everything after we get in, but not now!"

"NO!"

"GIDEON!"

As the boy opened his mouth, Stan managed to get a little of the drink in his mouth. Gideon gagged; the liquid tasted worse than it smelled. Before he could yell at Stan, he shrieked in pain. He gripped his stomach; it felt like it was getting smaller under his grasp. He looked at his hand, and almost screamed. It was shrinking; yes, _shrinking_; to the size of a baby doll's. It wasn't just his hand, either. His arms, legs, even his head felt like they were shriveling up. Stan also took a swing, and though looking like he might throw up, he still stood his ground. Pretty soon, the two of them were barely the size of a mouse. While Gideon was dumbfounded by the now enormous room, Stan jogged to the small door. He grabbed the small key (now slightly bigger), still in his pocket, and unlocked it. The door opened with ease. Gideon saw Stan opening the door, and soon the two had entered, expecting to see a strange world inside it.

Admittedly, both were surprised to see that their "strange" world looked exactly the woods outside Gravity Falls. The towering Pine and Oak trees combined to a very strong, perfumed smell. Stan got out the small cake, and broke off a piece for Gideon. The small bite both of them had was much better than the foul drink. It had a vanilla-like taste, the icing having a buttermilk flavor to it. They might have been tempted to eat more if they didn't return to normal size after it. Stan put the growing cake in his pocket.

"Did Bill let us out?" Gideon asked, feeling the heat of the fading sunlight on his skin.

Stan grabbed a handful of dirt; it felt real, it even smelled real. But upon further examination, there were the slightest hints of gold spirals flickering from time to time.

"No." The older man replied, putting down the dirt. "He's trying to make us let our guard down." He noticed a dirt road, leading much deeper into the forest. He sighed. "Come on; we better get going."

Stan began to walk down the trail when he noticed Gideon wasn't following. He then remembered what he had said before they entered here. "Wait, are you seriously…?" Gideon crossed his arms. "Look, we don't have time-!" Gideon sat down on a nearby log.

"Well?" Gideon said.

Stan stayed quiet a moment. He once more sighed, looking a log beside him. Sitting down, he interlocked his fingers, thinking a moment.

"Where to begin?"


	12. Where He Began

_**A/N: Hi! So, I did watch the Season 2 premiere of Gravity Falls. It was AWESOME and I can't wait for more! However, none of the events of Season 2 will be in this story, and I'm going strictly by Season 1 alone. The only exception would be if it's a major character development which could come in handy in my story, but nothing else.**_

_**Oh, by the way, the layout of the rest of the story will follow each individual group, and maybe the occasional cut in with Bill and his "buddy". Anyway, I hope you enjoy!**_

**Chapter Twelve: Where He Began**

**No POV**

"I was a kid when it all started." Stan began. "My family used to always come up here during the summer. It wasn't long before I realized there were strange things in this town. It also wasn't long before I knew how to make a profit off of it. I used to guide other kids to the other strange parts of this town. Not too soon after, people began to notice me. However, I also got the attention of…a group. For my own safety, I'm not going to say who. These people…they knew everything about this place. Every monster, every curse, every demon; they could name 'em all. So, I managed to get into the group rather quickly; in fact, it's how I got my fez. So, that's how I've figured out everything so far; they've prepared me in case something like this ever happened."

There was a silence. Stan soon stood up, saying, "We better get a move on; it'll get dark soon."

Gideon complied. Before the two entered deeper into the forest, however, Gideon asked, "Is… Is that how you first met Bill?"

Stan was quiet a moment. "Yeah," he said. "That's how I met him."

_**Afterwards…**_

The man behind the monitor sighed, looking at Stan's screen. It got pitch-perfect audio, and he had just heard everything that Stan said. As if on cue, Bill entered the room.

"Ouch, he didn't even mention you." Bill commented, hovering behind the chair over the man's shoulder. "That's rough, buddy."

"I'm not your 'buddy'," the man snapped, his head turning to see Bill. After a moment, it turned back to the monitors. "…And don't act so surprised that he didn't mention me. You know perfectly well why."

"Oh, lighten up, will you?" Bill said. "You care too much about the Pines."

"And why wouldn't I?!" He spoke with a fire in his voice. "They are important to me, you know! Maybe I shouldn't have put them in your sick game to begin with!"

"Hey, you better watch your tone!" Bill barked, spinning around to look the man in the face. "Let's not forget who pulled you out of this 'sick game' to begin with! And let's remember he can put you back in just as easily! Is there anything _else_ you care to add, 'Six-Fingered Hand'?"

The man stayed quiet. "Yeah, that's what I thought." Bill said, vanishing from the room.

_God, I hate that guy. _"Six-Fingered Hand" thought, resuming work on the monitors.

_**Meanwhile…**_

Robbie, Wendy, and Soos wandered around the woods for a decent hour before they found something. It resembled a store of some sort, though the sign was too weathered down to be legible. There was a fence surrounding the premise, high enough to have to climb with a barbwire top, but there was a huge hole right in the middle of it all.

With some struggling from Soos to get through (as his roundness proved to be quite a challenge), the three of them stood in front of the store. Robbie tried the door.

"Locked," he said. Wendy looked around the premises. "I think we should-."

"Wait a minute." Wendy told him, running to the side of the store, which had an old dumpster. She climbed on the dumpster, soon hopping on the roof. After this, Wendy kicked in the old vent cover, which crumbled soon after, allowing her to slip right in. A few minutes passed before she opened up the front door with ease. There was a silence for a moment or two.

"Dude, that was awesome!" Soos smiled. He went through the door, Wendy holding it open, high-fiving her as he entered. Robbie looked stunned.

"Whoa… How did you…?" Robbie began.

"It was just like…that place we went to a while back," Wendy replied, hesitantly at first, but she soon returned to her cool tone. "I figured if Dipper could do it, so could I."

Robbie, though scowling at the mention of Dipper's name, went through the door, Wendy following soon after.

The store was barely anything anymore. All the food was either spoiled or turned to dusk, cobwebs littered around the aisles. Wendy and Robbie shivered almost in unison.

"What is it?" Soos asked.

"Oh, uh…" Wendy scratched the back of her neck.

"Déjà vu-ish, that's all." Robbie explained. Both of them had felt like they've been in there before. It happened a long time ago, with neither one of them sure whether or not it was a trick of some sort. Maybe the expired Pitt sodas were starting to mess with their heads a little…

As they split up, touring around, Wendy picked up a newspaper. The main headline was "PIZZA CRUST DECLARED DELICIOUS". _Alright, that's just messed up, _she thought, her mind once more turning to the event at a certain convenience mart.

"Hey, dudes, check it out!" Soos yelled. Wendy shook her head as she put down the paper, Robbie joining her as they jogged to where he was.

What they saw made them gasp.

Soos had decided to lay down in one of the taped outlines of a couple, male and female, saying, "Look at me, I'm a dead body!" with a toothy grin.

"Soos-!" Robbie began to warn, but it was too late.

The outline he was laying in began to glow a ghostly blue.

* * *

Mabel and Phineas continued down their trek until a grate flooded with light near the end. They went over by the grate, looking down. It didn't look like much of anything; just a square of white between metal beams. There wasn't anything to be heard, either, so that didn't help things. The two of them looked at each other.

"I should go first," Phineas said, grabbing the saw from before. "You know, just in case."

Mabel nodded as Phineas sawed off the square grate. He picked it up by the edges before leaving on the square of metal next to him, entering the blank room feet first. A few moments passed in silence; Mabel began to bite her lip.

"Okay, we're good!" Phineas proclaimed, his head appearing under the grate. Mabel smiled in relief, entering the room.

It was a little more than it first appeared to be; the white floor turned out to be marble, with the walls around them black. There was a brown, oak door in the middle of it all, open just a crack. Seeing no other alternative, Mabel and Phineas entered into the next room. It looked like an old storage room, probably not being in use for years. The dim room's only light source was a window, which shown its light on a puddle.

That's when they noticed the contents of the cramped room: several wax figurines, modeling after many famous people, both of fiction and reality. Sherlock Holmes, Robin Hood, William Shakespeare, Coolio, the Queen of England, and Larry King was just a few of the many names that were included in the collection.

Mabel almost immediately grabbed Phineas' wrist.

"We need to get out of here!" she whispered, as if she was afraid someone would hear.

"Mabel, relax." Phineas said, turning his back on a Wax Genghis Khan. "It's just a few old wax figures."

"Phineas, you don't understand-!" Mabel tried to explain, only to be cut off by Phineas.

"It's alright." He reassured. "Nothing's-Whoa!"

Phineas turned back towards the Genghis Khan figure, whom was closer than last time, a raised wax sword in his hand, like he was about to attack the Flynn.

"Wasn't he over there a few seconds ago…?" Phineas noticed, turning his head away from the figurine for a moment. The red-head soon noticed a trail of footprints, each left footstep containing a hole, coming off the stand and near him. Another curious note was how Wax Genghis Khan was completely detached from the stand. Yes, the stand he came from was completely empty. _So how is he able to stay up? _Phineas began to wonder.

"PHINEAS, WATCH OUT!" Mabel screamed, pushing him out of the way, just as something cut both of the ropes' trails, only leaving the remains around their waists.

The two of them turned to discover the Wax Genghis Kahn, standing back up to his scale height. They gapped, wordlessly, as the wax figures began to move on their own, Genghis Kahn beginning to smile a wicked grin.

* * *

Nicole groaned, grabbing her head.

She had plummeted God knows how high up, and landed face first into hard dirt. When she began to stand up, she felt a hard jab of pain in her chest, causing her to shout a bit. She grabbed her chest and something felt broken.

_Oh great, _she thought. _I think I broke a few ribs. All because an assumption on some jackalope leading me somewhere. Brilliant, Nicole, just BRILLIANT._

When she did manage to stand up, she once more felt a jab of pain, this time coming from her ankle. She looked down and discovered that Ferb's splint from her encounter with the Gnomes had shattered in half. _And I have to deal with a limp now. Again, BRILLIANT._

She looked around the cavern. It had a light coming from an unknown source, and the place itself was huge. There was a pond of water not too far to where she was, with everywhere else being rocks with a purple-ish hue. Nicole was wiping off some of the grime off her as she heard a voice say, "Hey, are you alright?"

She looked up to discover Dipper on one of the upper levels. "Fine," she lied. "Now come on and get down from there, we-."

Nicole was interrupted by another voice, this time frantic/mad. "Nicole, are you crazy?! You could have gotten both of us killed! I can't believe you'd-!" When it came out of the shadows, Nicole's eyes widened as it turned out to be another Dipper. The second Dipper stopped when he noticed his copy on another level.

"What the-I thought you disintegrated!" The upper-level Dipper pointed a finger at the other one, as if he'd seen him before.

"What are you talking about? _I'm _the real Dipper here!" The other proclaimed. "_You're _the one who should be disintegrated!"

"Nicole, don't listen to him. I'm the real Dipper!"

"Liar! I'm the real one!"

"Don't listen to either one of them!" Another voiced joined. It turned out to be yet another Dipper. The three of them began to argue on which the real one was. Soon, they were popping out of everywhere. Copy after copy came, each claiming to be the real Dipper Pines, joining the argument. Accusations of the false one flew all around, as none of them were going to admit which was a fake. The worse thing, however, was that each one looked exactly the same; the backpack Dipper wore earlier wasn't anywhere, and Nicole couldn't tell who the real one was.

_Oh no. _Nicole thought, as more Dippers came in the room.


	13. Need A Hand? Part 1

_**A/N: Hi! Okay, so the content for this chapter is so long that I need to break it into two parts. Hopefully this won't happen often, but for now, this is just going to be about Nicole, Dipper, Phineas, Mabel, and two new guests that'll be joining for a while**__**. Enjoy!**_

**Chapter Thirteen: Need A Hand? Part 1**

**Nicole's POV**

Is it weird for me to say that being surrounded by God knows how many Dippers, each insisting on which was the real one, is the most _normal _thing that's happened to me today?

I mean, sure, it's bad, considering one of them is my only lifeline to whatever's going on, but at least it's not life-threatening or anything.

"Hey," I asked one of the closer ones. "What's supposed to be happening here?"

"Oh, um…" He thought for a moment, soon snapping his fingers, remembering something. "Okay, you need to choose which one of us is real." Hm, sounded easy enough. "You get three chances, and if you fail, we kill you both!"

…Well… Forget what I said a few minutes ago, then.

I backed away from the oddly charismatic clone (who was once more sucked back into the argument), looking around the area. _Okay, think; is there anything the clones have in common besides the whole arguing-thing? _I thought, looking closely at a few of them. As it turned out, many of them were slightly paled, at least compared to the real Dipper. After looking for a few minutes, I finally decided on one, not too far away from me. As I walked towards him, I wondered how exactly I "chose him". What, would the others just vanish?

I lightly tapped him on the shoulder before getting my answer. The Dipper fell silent, standing stiff. Suddenly, his eyes grew a ghostly white, and he began mumbling gibberish. Everyone grew silent, looking at the clone. It grew louder, soon climaxing to an ear-splitting scream, with the Dipper grabbing his head in pain. Then, he rapidly began to melt, with only a few moments passing before he was a puddle. To finish off, the Dipper clone dissolved into the ground. Once the horrific display was over, everything was silent.

"Come on, Nicole," Dipper (I dunno, thirty-five?) said. "Just pick me already so we can get a move on!"

"Hey, I'm the real one here!" Another one said, the argument sparking up again. Meanwhile, I (gaping at how little they cared that the horrific scene that had just happened) was looking around. Okay, I just lost a guess. At least I had two more. It was a few minutes of hearing everyone argue before I settled on another one. I hesitated, though; come on, wouldn't you? However, my life was on stake here, as well as Dipper's. I tapped his shoulder.

This time, he clutched his neck, like he was suffocating. He fell in the empty dirt patch behind him, which unfortunately included one of my shoes, squirming the whole time. I tried to help him up, but it didn't help matters. He still disintegrated moments later, becoming one with the dirt like the other one. Well, except the part that was atop my foot. I yelped, wiping off the Dipper on my shoe. Once I got as much as I could off, I began to pant, my heart racing. The Dippers were still arguing (I don't think they even noticed what had just happened) as I looked frantically around. _Focus, Nicole! You only have one guess left here!_

I was beginning to feel my palms get sweaty as I was yanked back behind a large rock. Whoever it was let go of my green backpack as I whipped my head around to see it was yet another Dipper.

"Wait, before you say anything, I know I'm not the real Dipper." He said, gesturing to his hat as proof. I looked at it; in fading, black ink, the number "2" was written where a pine tree should have been.

"Then why'd you pull me back here?" I asked.

"I'll explain it when I can, but I know there's a bucket in your backpack." He told me; he was starting to back up into a small cave. "Fill it up with the water from the pond and splash it on the clones. When you find Dipper, come and see me. I'll be in this cave." Before I could ask any questions, he ran into the cave.

Not knowing what else to do, I took my backpack off and opened it. Along with a few snacks and an empty water canteen, somehow a sliver bucket managed to fit inside. How that's possible is a complete mystery to me, but if it means getting out of this cave quicker, I'll believe anything.

I left the backpack behind the rock as I carried the bucket to the water to the small lake, filling it with cold water. _Please let this work…_ I thought as I splashed the closest Dippers with the water.

The effect was almost simultaneous. The spots that got hit with water began to bubble as the Dippers panicked. Pretty soon, they were beginning to melt, the color seeming to run off their skins. This time, the Dippers did look scared; they looked terrified at the droplets of water still on the bucket I held, not at the clones that just became a puddle. That's when I noticed something: the smell. It smelled a lot like ink in here.

…Like ink from a pen you would use on paper! That's it! Paper! The clones were made of paper!

And I just found their weakness.

Pretty soon, I was shoveling water like a madman at the clones. They all began to scramble away, not wanting to dissolve like so many of the others. Within minutes all the Dippers were either puddles on the ground or had gotten away. Well, all except one, who laid behind one of the rocks near the hole, unconscious.

It wasn't before long that I splashed his face with water.

* * *

**Dipper's POV**

I was drenched from my waist up before I finally shot awake.

That hole in the middle of the floor went really deep; in all honestly, I'm surprised that I didn't get a broken neck. But, apparently, I had missed a few things, because when I finally opened my eyes, I saw Nicole, holding a bucket with dripping water, half covered in dirt and limping, a dark area forming where some of her ribs should be.

What was it that I said when I saw that Nicole was the person I got stuck with? "At least you're not the worst of company?" Yeah, I officially retract that statement. This woman was most likely a psychopath.

"What the heck, Nicole?! Do you realize we could have been killed by that fall?!" I angrily asked.

She slightly chuckled. "Yep, it's you alright…" she said. "And sorry about the whole water-thing, I had to make sure you weren't made of paper."

…Okay, I'm convinced; this woman is DEFINITELY a psychopath!

I was about to ask why she was carrying a bucket (or how she even got a bucket in the first place), only to be cut off by my own shout of pain. I had tried to stand up, but as soon as my right leg got the tiniest bit of pressure, it had given up on me. I fell back on the ground. Nicole helped me up and I used her side for support.

"You still have your backpack?" She asked, like she wanted to move pass the huge fall that had happened a few minutes ago.

"Yeah," I said, looking behind to see the blue bag still there. I picked it up as I began to ask, "Why do you need-?"

"I'll explain later." She interrupted. "Right now, we have to get out of here."

She practically dragged me behind a rock, where there looked like a cave. She grabbed her own bag, which was zipped open, stuffing the still wet bucket inside. She slung it over her shoulder (which hit me on the side of my head) and we went into the cave. It was a little darker than outside, but not by a lot. We had only taken three or four steps in before a shadow came out. I freaked out a bit a first, but as soon as he got into the light, I immediately recognized the number 2 on his hat.

"Tyrone!" I happily exclaimed. Nicole raised an eyebrow. "'Tyrone'? You mean all those clones outside weren't named 'Dipper'?" Nicole asked…Tyrone, I suppose, since I had no idea what she meant.

"No, they were numbered." Tyrone replied. "I'm the only one with a different name."

"What are you doing here? I thought you melted on the roof a long time ago." I asked, only one of a million questions.

"Bill brought me back for the maze." He explained. "It's all a part of his 'grand plan' apparently." He looked down the cave, which seemed to get deeper. "Speaking of which, we better keep moving. The other Dippers should be heading back soon."

Tyrone lead the way as Nicole and I, after sharing a brief glance, followed.

* * *

**No POV**

Phineas couldn't believe his eyes.

Wax figures-inanimate objects, which means _not alive_-were beginning to form a circle around Mabel and him.

"But…aren't you…?" Phineas began to ask, bewildered.

Wax Sherlock Holmes slightly grinned. "It appears the triangle-headed one is confused." He began. "My dear boy, we have been cursed for several years now to come alive at the waxing moon. Stan bought us at a garage sale, only to be but away in storage for a decade. When we were found once again, we were about to get our long awaited revenge on Stan, but your female friend here and her brother destroyed us. We thought we were going to be gone forever. However, we have been brought back by a force that we ourselves do not fully understand. I was hoping the short-pants one to be here so I could destroy him…but, I suppose you two will have to do." He unsheathed a sword, Mabel once more grabbing Phineas' wrist as the figure's eyes turned solid white. The two of them barely dodged wax fists, feet, axes, and even Coolio's head (which unfortunately collided with the wood floor) before they crawled through a small entrance in one of the walls.

This lead to an enormous cave, surrounded by a baby blue stream and white sand, the rocks all around them glistening with water. A few crystals were even in there, which reflected with a rainbow pattern. They might have stopped to admire the pretty scene if a wax ax did miss their heads a moment later. They ran toward a makeshift mountain as Phineas asked, "Mabel, what do we do to destroy those things?"

"Well, the last time this happened, we were able to get rid of them with heat. But I don't see any matches or anything in here!" Mabel had unzipped her backpack to search for anything that could help. "Ooh, I didn't know there were stickers in here!"

Phineas looked around the cave. At the top of the mountain, there was a large patch of sunlight. Looking inside his own backpack, Phineas also found a magnifying glass, along with a bunch of sticks. He smiled.

"Mabel, follow me; I have an idea!" He said, as Mabel was looking through the google-eyed stickers. She dropped them back in her bag as the two of them began climbing the mountain. Meanwhile, the wax figures had already gotten through, and saw the two children climbing the big rock. They charged towards them, and they were not too far behind the children in a matter of moments.

However, Mabel and Phineas managed to reach the top of the mountain, Phineas putting the magnifying glass over one of the sticks.

"They're getting closer!" Mabel warned, seeing the wax figures grow closer. Luckily, Phineas' plan had worked; the stick had caught on fire on the tip, growing bigger by the moment. But, at that exact moment, Wax Genghis Khan had reached the top, grabbing Mabel's ankle. She slightly shouted, Phineas turning to see what was happening.

"Mabel, catch!" He said, tossing the flaming stick to her. She caught it, soon sticking it in Genghis' head. It worked, as the wax man fell over, losing his grip on Mabel's ankle, his head melting.

It soon became a pattern: Phineas would light one of the sticks, and Mabel would use it to get rid of the oncoming wax figures, which fell on top of the other rapidly melting wax figures. She stabbed Lizzie Borden through the heart, though Lizzie tried to hit Mabel with her ax; decapitated Larry King, to which he thought aloud that it felt awfully familiar; William Shakespeare, reciting poetry, was cut in half at the torso; Mabel snatched the decapitated Coolio head from his body before sticking a torch in his chest, which she used to get rid of Robin Hood and John Wilkes Booth; when she accidentally dropped Coolio's head before Edgar Allen Poe came up, whom she stabbed in the hand, which caused him to lose his grip on the mountain.

"I think that's the last of them." Mabel said, the two of them sighing in relief. That's when a thought occurred to Phineas.

"Hey, where's Wax Sherlock?" He said, looking around. Mabel was about to answer when Sherlock suddenly popped out of nowhere, tackling the girl. The two of them landed under the light opening, but Sherlock wasn't melting, despite being right under it.

"How aren't you melting?" Mabel asked, backing away from the now standing Holmes.

"Sunblock, SPF 100." He replied, once more getting out his sword.

Phineas was about to try and get under the sunlight, but Sherlock was one step ahead of him, knocking the magnifying glass out of his hand. "The magnifying glass!" Phineas shouted, attempting to grab it, but the magnifying glass plummeted to the ground, landing with a loud crack.

"You called _that _a magnifying glass?" Sherlock scoffed. "Have you seen mine? It's huge!" He pulled out his magnifying glass, but it was half melted by the sunlight. "Well, it was." Sherlock discarded the melted object before turning his attention to Mabel.

Meanwhile, Phineas looked around the dirt around him, desperate for something-_anything_-that would help creating a spark. His answer came when something hit the back of his head. Though it slight hurt, Phineas turned to see a seashell. Realizing that was the exact thing he needed, he quickly got to work on creating a spark.

While this was happening, Mabel was backing up from Wax Sherlock Holmes. However, she reached a problem: Mabel had run out of space, and her hand could feel only the tip of the plummet that waited if she slipped.

_Come on, come on… _Phineas thought, as he still attempted a fire. Sherlock stood right over a panicked Mabel.

"Any last words?" He asked, raising his sword. Just then, Phineas had finally achieved a small fire, which blew out to become an extremely hot tip.

The Flynn wasted no time; he dropped the seashell before quickly shoving the stick in-between Sherlock's eyes. Sherlock yelled in pain, walking backwards before finally plummeting off a cliff, becoming stuck in the sticky remains of the others.

Phineas walked over to Mabel. "Are you alright?" He asked, offering his hand.

Mabel smiled, accepting her crush's hand. "I'm fine." She replied, getting up. It was then Mabel noticed the pink seashell Phineas had used a few moments ago. She picked it up, as Phineas discovered it was a necklace, the sting it had attached too dark to be noticed right away. "Hey, this looks exactly like-."

"Mabel!" A voice with a Spanish accent interrupted. Mabel looked down to see…

"Mermando!" She shouted back, smiling as she quickly climbed down the rocks, Phineas following. Once the two of them reached the bottom, Phineas was able to see who Mabel was so excited to see. The deep voiced man, though he didn't look too much older than Mabel, was dark skinned, most likely coming from his clear Hispanic heritage; had an indeterminable eye color; long, brown hair, with a small mustache; and, from the grin he was wearing, pearl-white teeth with a gap between his two front ones. As he went towards Mermando, however, Phineas noticed something unusual: instead of feet, Mermando had a vivid green tail, darker at the tip and the waist.

"What are you doing here?" Mabel asked, kneeling to look at his eyes.

"I do not know: I was swimming in the Gulf with my family one moment, and the next I am here. But as soon as I heard your voice in the cave, I just had to come and find you." Mermando replied. He then looked at Phineas. "Speaking of which, does your Nacho-headed friend happen to still have my necklace?"

Phineas blinked before handing Mermando his necklace. "His name is Phineas, by the way." Mabel commented.

"Not a man of many words, I see." Mermando chuckled.

"Oh, no, it's not that. It's just… I can't believe I'm talking to a merman right now." Phineas said.

"You'd be surprised how often I hear that." Mermando said.

"Say, Mermando, do you happen to know where the stream ends?" Mabel asked.

He thought a moment. "I think it ends at some sort of big lake or ocean. Why do you ask?" Mermando replied.

"Can you help us get to the end? We're a bit lost." Mabel smiled.

"Of course!" He instantly replied. Mermando dove into the water as Mabel grabbed her backpack near the wax figures.

"Come back and fight us!" Sherlock demanded, struggling to get up in the wax.

"Sorry, we really can't right now." Mabel apologized. She grabbed one of the cat google-eyed stickers, said "Have a sticker!", and stuck it on Holmes' face with a "Boop!"

Sherlock Holmes continued to shout at them to stay and fight as Phineas and Mabel followed Mermando downstream.


	14. Need A Hand? Part 2

_**A/N: Hi! Alright, unfortunately I have to go back on school on Thursday, so these might come out later than usual. But don't worry, the story will still go on, just a bit later, that's all. So, without further ado, enjoy!**_

**Chapter Fourteen: Need A Hand? Part 2**

**No POV**

Soos had no idea what he had just done.

Well, he wasn't there where everything happened, so Wendy really couldn't blame him. Heck, the first time she was here, her friends' original idea was to do that exact same thing.

However, she still remembered what happened _after _one of them laid in the body outline.

How could she forget? None of them did; for God's sake, one of them became a hotdog. A HOTDOG! It's not necessarily the easiest thing to forget. Wendy was pretty sure that Thompson, one of her friends, got a permeant fear of ghosts after that; he even once mistook Mabel in a bed sheet as a ghost! And, needless to say, none of them had watched a ghost movie the same way again.

Still, until today, she thought that was in the past.

As the ghostly blue light grew brighter, she exclaimed, "Soos, get out of there!"

The man-child tried to lift his arms, but to no avail. "I can't!" Soos replied. "I'm stuck!"

Wendy attempted to get close to him, but Robbie called her name before grabbing the back of her shirt, pulling her behind one of the aisles. She was about to protest when a blinding white light barely missed the bottom of her left boot, scorching it.

Robbie practically dragged Wendy by the wrist to the entrance. "We need to get out of here!" He exclaimed.

Before she could reply, the glass doors of the store snapped shut. Robbie let go of Wendy and attempted to open the door.

"Locked?!" Robbie realized. He tried to open it again as Wendy tapped his shoulder. "Wendy, not now, I'm-." He turned around, soon seeing why she got his attention. Soos, a vague blue-ish aura around him with his pupils vanished, floated above them a few aisles off.

"WELCOME, TO YOUR DOOM!" He announced in a big, booming voice. The possessed man laughed as he attempted to hit the two of them with some ray from his hand. Robbie, in some sort of trance, snapped out of it as soon as Wendy nearly tackled him to get the two of them out of the way. They took refuge behind some stale chips as the poltergeist vanished, along with Soos' body. Robbie looked around the corner on one part of the aisle.

"I think we should be safe," he said, slightly panting. Wendy looked up from her hiding spot as she thought of something: what was on the aisle across from them again? She looked behind her; it was full of safety scissors, staplers, and freshly sharpened pencils, the tagline reading "they're so sharp they could break through skin!"

And they were beginning to move…

_Seriously?! _Wendy thought as she shoved Robbie out, the two of them only barely missing being impaled by the world's sharpest pencils. The two of them were beginning to run away when "Soos" reappeared, picking up one of the now destroyed bags of chips, causing some of the contents to spill out.

"REALLY? THIS BAG OF CHIPS COSTS TEN DOLLARS ALONE! TEN DOLLARS! YOU'RE BOTH GOING TO PAY FOR THAT!" The ghost complained, tossing the bag of chips aside. He soon gave chase to the two teens, who managed to avoid him by hiding behind huge bags of dog food. Wendy and Robbie got out of their hiding spots, only for Robbie to notice something off.

"Hey, is it just me, or does something feel different?" He asked Wendy.

She looked around. "Yeah, but I don't know why…" She replied, soon looking down, causing her eyes to go wide. "Robbie…"

"It's weird, I know this place is the same, but it just feels different."

"Robbie…"

"I dunno, maybe the ghost changed the-."

"ROBBIE!"

Robbie looked beside him, to discover that she was bothering him about. Their feet had completely left the floor. At most, there would have gone up roughly…an inch, maybe two? No matter how high up they were up, they were still floating in the air. Unless both of them simultaneously gained flying powers (which could honestly be a good explanation, considering everything else that's happened today), it could only mean one thing…

Speak of the Devil; Robbie saw the apparition, now beginning to extend his hand. "Look out!" he exclaimed, pushing Wendy out of the way. Not a moment too soon, as the beam that shot out of his hand barely passed the two, causing the display of Smile Dip it actually hit to explode, covering the two of them in the candy. Wendy took a bit off her cheek and tried it.

"Hm. It's not half bad." Wendy remarked. "I wonder why it got banned…"

Before she could get some more off her face, she, along with everything else, got quickly forced up to the ceiling. The teenager was nearly crushed by the Ice freezer, and was hit with several smaller objects as she ran across the ceiling. "Soos", all the while, was trying to destroy Wendy, though occasionally complaining when a piece of merchandise was destroyed ("THOSE LITTLE PANDA PENS WERE THREE NINETY-NINE A PIECE! AND, COME ON, THEY WERE SO CUTE!").

Wendy was beginning to wear down when her ankle was pulled into a tight corner. She turned to discover Robbie, and she practically ripped her ankle out of his grip as he let go.

"What are we gonna do?!" Robbie whispered; the dude was practically shaking. "I haven't seen a single bat around here!"

"A bat? What's a bat-?" Wendy began, only to remember what she had said to cover Dipper the first time she went here. She did mention something about a bat, didn't she? "Oh, well…" Wendy was thinking of a way to get out of this mess, and only one thing came to mind. She blushed.

"…What?" Robbie said; Wendy sighed.

"There is another way to get rid of the ghost." She explained. Then, to Robbie's dismay, she stood up and walked towards the apparition.

"Wendy! What are you doing?!" Robbie demanded. "Soos" was making some random objects spin in the air when Wendy took a deep breath.

"Hey, Pa, was it?" Wendy shouted above the new whirlwind in the room. "Soos" turned his head a full 180o to Wendy. He raised his hand, as if he was about to destroy the teen, when she quickly told him, "I know the Lamby-Lamby Dance!"

The spirit put down his hand. "THE WHAT?" He asked.

Wendy blushed harder than before. "That funny little dance Dipper did to appease you? I…I know it." She replied. "So I have a deal for you."

"Soos" put his hand on his chin. "GO ON…"

Wendy walked closer to the ghost. "Okay, if I do the Lamby-Lamby dance, then you have to let us go."

He thought for a moment. "I DON'T KNOW…"

"_Make her do it!_" Another voice suddenly chimed. This ghost looked friendlier then the other, floating over to the man. She looked like she was an overweight senior citizen, wearing a shirt, jacket, skirt, and glasses, the whole color scheme being white and blue. Her white hair went to her shoulders, and a small brooch was on her shirt. A name tag on her jacket read "Ma".

"_Ma!_" Pa said in a drastically different voice, coming out of Soos' body, flying over to the old woman. The man-child was unconscious as Pa hugged Ma. Pa wasn't that much different than Ma was in his true form, also being an overweight senior citizen, his own color scheme being white and blue. He had a white comb over, wore an apron and a shirt, as well as glasses. His own name tag on his right side read "Pa". "_What are you doing here? I thought you were back at the Dusk 2 Dawn!"_

"_I was._" Ma said, coming out of the hug, but still holding her husband. "_But I was just looking through some old photo albums one minute, and now I'm here!_" She looked at Wendy. "_Just in time, it seems! Come on, Pa, have her do that funny little dance!"_

"_But… Sweetie…"_

"_I know, I know, I hate teenagers as much as you do! But we need them to get to the center of the woods, remember? Not to mention, we both love that little dance, and I haven't seen you enjoy yourself that much in years!"_

"_Well… Alright,"_ Pa said, putting his arm around his wife, "_If only for you, Honey-Bun._" The two shared an Eskimo kiss as Wendy reminded them, "Uh…I really don't have a Lamb costume on me, so…"

Before she could say anything else, Pa snapped his fingers and suddenly Wendy was in a Lamb costume. _So THIS is what Dipper felt like back then…_ Wendy thought, clearing her throat (her cheeks burning) as she began:

"_Well! Who wants a lamby, lamby, lamby?_

_I do! I do!_

_So, go up and greet your mammy, mammy, mammy,_

_Hi there! Hi there!_

_So march, march, march around the daises,_

_Don't, don't, don't forget about the ba-bies!"_

She ended with a wink as Pa began to laugh.

"_That was some quality entertainment there!"_ He said, finishing his chuckle. _"You can all go free."_ The store door opened.

"Thank you." Wendy said, suddenly back in her real clothes. "You know, for a second I was really worried there-."

Before she could finish, Ma and Pa had already vanished. A few chips fell, and Wendy suddenly remembered how gravity worked. She was almost smashed headfirst into the ground as everything crashed back into the floor. Soos regained consciousness as Wendy, Robbie, and himself groaned, getting up.

"What'd I miss?" Soos inquired.

"Oh, nothing much," Wendy said. Soos accepted this as a viable answer as he asked, "So, where to next?"

"Hm… I think we should try to go to the center of these woods." Wendy replied, remembering Ma's words. "Who knows, there might be an exit or something."

"Sounds like a plan!" Soos smiled as he began walking out, opening up his half-crushed backpack. "Whoa, there's a ton of stuff in here! Food, water, a flashlight…"

He continued naming the contents of bag as Robbie went by Wendy, smiling.

"So, the 'Lamby-Lamby Dance', huh? Looks like 'Dr. Fun-Times' turned out to be…uh… 'Private'… 'Prissy-Pants'. Yeah, 'Private Prissy-Pants'!" Robbie said, only to get a side glare from Wendy.

Stan groaned.

Why, of all the places, of all the times, of basically _anything_, did Bill have to send Gideon and himself in the woods?! I mean, talk about uninspired! Bill was supposedly this big dream-demon, yet the best he could think up for the two of them was _the woods_?! I mean, just _being _in here made him remember…

Remember…

He shook his head. _You don't need that right now, Stan_. He thought. _All you have to do is worry about that punk Gideon, nothing more, nothing less._

"AH!" Gideon suddenly screamed. Stan panicked for a split second, turning around to expect a huge monster, or maybe Bill himself.

Instead, he just saw Waddles, sniffing a pinned Gideon on the ground.

"GET OFF ME, YOU DIRTY PIG!" Gideon attempted to swat the harmless thing away.

Stan briefly face palmed. "Kid, quit being a wuss." He bluntly said, taking Waddles off the small boy. "It's just Mabel's pig, Waddles."

"My darling Mabel owns…_that_?" Gideon looked horrified at the thought. "I thought it was just a stray that wouldn't leave!"

"Well…kind of…" Stan admitted, as he never really considered him a pet. "But, it makes her happy, so I tolerate it."

As Stan put Waddles on the ground, he noticed something odd. The pig's tracks seemed to have something…shiny in them…

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Waddles oinked. He looked up at the pig, staring straight into the animal's beady eyes. "Yes?" Stan said.

The pig blinked before hurrying down the dirt path they were on. He was about to turn around a bend when Waddles turned back to the two, squealing.

"What's it doing?" Gideon asked, an eyebrow raised.

"I don't know," Stan replied. "Follow it, maybe? Considering everything else today, I wouldn't put Bill past it."

Gideon shrugged as the two began to follow the pig.

_**Back at Cipher H.Q. (A/N: And yes, I'm officially calling it that now)…**_

"Six-Fingered Hand" was adjusting Stan's camera as Bill entered into the room, practically slamming the door open. He rushed to the monitor as the Man in the Chair asked, "Cipher, what's going on?"

"I'm detecting something wrong." He replied, scanning each and every camera feed.

"What do you mean by wrong?"

"I think something-or _someone_-is helping out the others."

"What? Who?"

"I don't know… It's…it's just a feeling."

"…'A feeling'? Cipher, I've known you for years now, and not once have I ever heard you say the words 'It's just a feeling.'"

"Oh, shut up, will you! I think there's-."

"Bill, relax. I've been watched these things all day, and nothing's gone wrong."

The demon looked uncertain a moment. Then, Bill sighed. "I suppose you're right; I'm just a bit paranoid, probably. Ooh, I should go and mess with the universe! That always cheers me up!"

Bill was beginning to leave, happier than before, when he heard "Six-Fingered Hand" hum something.

"What's that song?" Bill asked him.

"What song?" The Man in the Chair asked in return.

"That song you're humming… I swear I've heard it before."

"It's just some song I heard on the radio. I don't remember the name, though."

"Oh… Well then…"

As Cipher began to leave, he managed to hear a lyric from that "song on the radio":

"…_Who wants a lamby, lamby, lamby?..."_


	15. Fireside Chats

**Chapter Fifteen: Fireside Chats**

**Nicole's POV**

"Hey, are you alright?" I heard Tyrone ask. I assumed he was talking to me, considering that Dipper had dozed off a while ago, so I replied, "Fine."

After becoming exhausted, the three of us decided to camp for the night. Dipper and I shared a bag of trail mix when we got hungry (Tyrone didn't want any), and we had all agreed to take shifts watching the camp, just in case one of the Dippers or another monster figured out where we were. Currently, I was taping my slightly bleeding arms with some bandages I found in my bag, and Tyrone seemed to want to keep as much distance between him and the small fire we made as possible (considering he was made of paper, I didn't blame him), drawing something in the dirt with a twig.

Once I finished up on my arms, I grabbed the vial of jackalope milk (which, miraculously, hadn't cracked) and opened it. I carefully had a few drops hit my broken ribs, which had a small burning sensation. But it apparently worked, as the dull throb my wound had reduced to ceased. I did the same thing to my right ankle, with similar results.

"What's that?" Tyrone asked, apparently looking up from his doodle.

"It's jackalope milk." I replied. I was slightly shocked to hear how calm my voice was, like this happened all the time. Then again, considering everything else today, I'm pretty sure _nothing _could surprise me anymore. "I got it awhile back. Apparently, it can heal any type of wound."

"Wow." Tyrone said. "You must you it a lot."

"Nope, today was the first time I opened the bottle."

"…You're kidding."

"I'm not."

Tyrone looked bewildered. "...Care to explain why?"

I held up the vial; it was halfway full. "This is all I have of it, and I didn't use more than five or six drops."

"Oh." Tyrone realized. He looked over to Dipper. "Maybe you could him a few drops. You know, because of his ankle and all."

"Are you kidding?" I told Tyrone. "He's the reason I'm in this mess! He was the one who gave me the llama necklace, and he was probably one of the people the Author warned about! For all I know, maybe Bill was _warning _me to stay away Dipper in Gravity Falls so I wouldn't get caught up in everything!"

"Really?" Tyrone crossed his arms as he sat up to look at me. "When has Bill _ever _given the impression that he'd like to help people?"

I thought for a moment. Tyrone did have a point there… "Well… Never, but-."

"And what's to say Bill didn't just conjure up that necklace for Dipper to find, like he did for this cave or the other clones?"

"It's very likely, but-!"

"And when has Dipper ever given the impression that he wanted to harm or destroy anyone?"

"The gnomes."

"…Okay, _besides _the gnomes."

I didn't answer this. I glanced towards Dipper's direction.

"He's a good guy, Nicole. Heck, I should know, I'm the guy's clone_._ So, at the very least, can you _try _not to hate him? After all, you're going to be in here a while."

I looked towards Tyrone to see he had laid down on the dirt, his back turned. I sat there in silence for a moment. Then, I held the vial in my slightly dirty hands.

Maybe there _was _enough to cure one last injury.

* * *

**No POV**

"Phineas, are you alright?" Mabel asked the red-head. They had also decided to settle down for the night. Mermando was in the river next to them as Phineas and Mabel created a small fire. Mabel had taken off her sweater, complaining it was too hot, to reveal a pink tank top underneath. It was only then when Phineas realized his fingers were fidgeting.

"Oh, that? It's nothing. Just a bit of a nervous tick, that's all." Phineas said. It was clear he was lying; the kid was tugging at his shirt collar.

Mermando yawned. "I should get to sleep. Though I don't know what to sleep on…"

"A bed!" Phineas suddenly exclaimed. "A bed's not too hard to build! I just need a screwdriver, a couple of pieces of wood-Mabel, didn't you say something about being good at arts and crafts?-!"

"Phineas, I love the fact that you share Mabel's enthusiasm, but I just use that rock over there." Mermando interrupted, pointing towards a nearby rock. Phineas blinked, realizing how worked up he was getting.

"A rock. Right. A rock can work." Phineas said. Mermando was swimming towards the rock as Mabel gave Phineas an _I-know-something's-wrong-so-just-tell-me_ look.

He sighed. "Sorry. It's just been so long since I've built something with Ferb. I… I might be a little antsy."

"Yeah, it's kinda weird not having Dipper and all his mystery-type-stuff around." Mabel put her hands on her chin.

"At least you've got Mermando. He seems nice enough." Phineas reminded her, taking out a photograph. "All I've got is a photo."

Curious, Mabel looked came by him at looked at his picture. It showed him wildly grinning, Ferb remaining pokerfaced, a disinterested Candace, Linda slightly smiling with Laurence's hand over her shoulder, even Perry got in the photo in mid-chatter. She couldn't help but notice that Laurence wore glasses.

"It's a nice photo though." Mabel smiled, not wanting Phineas to feel bad. It was then, however, that Mabel noticed something else. "Who's the black-haired girl? She doesn't look anything like Nicole."

Indeed, someone else had gotten into the photo. She was roughly the height of Phineas; already a stark difference from Nicole, since she was roughly Ferb's height; had raven black hair, which was down and held by a pink bow; light tan skin; and wore a pink and white dress, a tan sash with many different patches on it, and pink shoes. She held her arms around Phineas' shoulders, also smiling big.

"Oh, that's Isabella. She's a friend of mine." Phineas said, smiling as if it brought back a good memory.

"Wait, is she your girlfriend?" Mabel asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"Well…I guess you could say that, yeah." Phineas replied, considering she's a girl and his friend.

Mabel, however, interpreted it in another way.

"Oh… I understand." Mabel turned her gaze downwards so Phineas couldn't see her disappointment. "I'm going to finish up putting stickers on my backpack." Mabel walked to her spot as Phineas smiled, still looking at the photo.

* * *

Wendy, Soos, and Robbie, after eating the gargantuan dinner consisting of beef jerky and stale crackers, were by their own fireplace. Soos was busy getting sticks for their fire, so Wendy and Robbie were alone. Robbie looked at Wendy, whom was poking the fire with a stick. He couldn't help but stare at the small cut on one of her cheeks and her long messy hair, most likely tangled beyond the use of a simple comb.

But he especially kept looking at her hands, still slightly roughed up.

Eventually, Robbie sighed. "Look, Wendy, I know what I did was wrong. I should have been a better boyfriend, listen to you more, and not try to brainwash you; you know, like a normal couple should. But I can change-."

"I know." Wendy said.

He stopped. "What?"

"I know you can change. I know you can be better, and I know you won't try to repeat your same mistakes. But I just can't trust you anymore. A huge part of a relationship is knowing and trusting one another; and, after I learned you were brainwashing me, I'm not sure I know _who _you are anymore, much less if I can trust you."

Robbie frowned at the memory at their break-up. "He has a crush on you, you know. Dipper, I mean. That's the reason why he broke us up."

Wendy smiled. "Yeah, I've already figured that one out. Quite a while ago, actually."

Robbie was surprised. "Then why haven't you told that twerp yet?"

She looked at him, dead in the eye. "Two reasons: One, I want him to know that we can't be together on his own. He's a friend of mine, not to mention three years younger than me, and I don't want to be the one that crushes his dreams. And two," She made sure to say this part carefully, so Robbie would understand with the upmost clarity: "unlike you, he did tell me that I was being used. So, at the very least, I know I can trust him."

Wendy turned back to the fire, jabbing at the log a bit harder now. Robbie fell silent, looking sadly at the ground. As if on cue, Soos got back, holding several logs. He saw the two teens sitting at a distance from one another.

_Why do I get the feeling I missed something again? _Soos thought. He then shrugged. _I'll ask later._

* * *

Stan, Gideon, and Waddles were deep into the woods, and sitting (get this) around a small campfire, settling down for the night. Waddles was fast asleep, gently kicking the air as Stan was saying, "…and, before the two teenagers realized what was about to happen, the Gremgoblin appeared out of nowhere, punching them in the face!"

"Stanford, are you almost done? You've been telling the same story for the past two hours now." Gideon said, bored out of his mind.

"What? It was just about to get good!" Stan practically whined like a little kid.

"You're just going to say that the Gremgoblin punched another person in the face that you hate. You've already covered half the town."

"Hey, he might eat someone! …Sometime…" Stan said. He put another log in the fire as Gideon winced, grabbing his right hand. "Did an ember hit you?"

"No…it's just been doing that for a while now." Gideon said. "I don't understand why; this hasn't happened before."

"It must be Bill."

"_Everything _seems to be Bill to you."

"I'm serious, kid. He might have given you a mark to get and keep you here; like maybe a dream including him or a hand design."

Gideon's eyes grew wide. He looked at his right hand; nothing was on it now, but earlier it had been glowing. It hadn't occurred to him before, but it was his right hand he used when he first met Bill, to seal the agreement. And there was that thing he said before he shook hands with him:

"_I'll help you with this and you can help me with something I've been working on!"_

"_Something I've been working on!"… _He couldn't have meant…

"…Kid?" Stan's voice got Gideon out of his thoughts.

"Say, there isn't anything to stop Bill from marking you, is there?" Gideon decided to change the subject.

"Hm. Well, there's one thing, if I remember correctly." Stan said. He proceeded to show a piece of a gold chain that he had around his neck. "Gold seems to be the guy's kryptonite." He placed it back under his collar.

"That's it? Gold?"

"Yeah. Don't ask me why, though, it's pretty random."

"…Okay." Gideon yawned. "I'm going to sleep. Mind watching the camp?"

"I've got nothing better to do." Stan remarked, but he wasn't sure he was heard; Gideon seemed to already be out like a light.

_Yeah… only one thing can keep him away. That should be good enough for him. _Stan thought, thinking back to a certain tattoo on his right shoulder, poking the fire once more.

* * *

_Stan's always been a good liar. _The Man behind the Chair thought, watching over the monitors. His own eyelids were being to droop. _No, you need to keep an eye on them. If you don't, Cipher will discover-._

His thoughts were interrupted by Bill, whom had entered the room once again. _Two times in one day? That's never good._

"What do you want, Cipher?" He asked, acting as if he were wide awake.

"You know, Six-Fingered Hand, I've been doing a bit of research on the layout of Operation: Cipher Wheel." Bill began. _Oh no._

"Yes? And?"

"Well, I noticed something interesting. You said that the only person who could control the rooms was me, right?"

"I designed that way, yes."

"Well…then this can't be right."

"…What do you mean?" _Don't goad him on! He'll figure out what you did!_

"It says here on the computer designs that there's an override code."

_Don't you answer-! _"Really?"

"Yeah. It apparently allows the user entrance into the mainframe. In there, they can design their own programs to interact with the participants, maybe even help them. And the weird part is, I'd never notice a difference! Strange, isn't it?"

"Very." _YOU'RE GOING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED! SHUT UP ALREADY!_

It was then the man felt a slight tingle on the back of his neck. He knew Bill was trying to read his thoughts, see if he could figure anything out. However, the tingle ceased as soon as it began, nothing seeming to happen.

"Well. You tell me when you want to switch monitoring the project." Bill was notably more displeased than before.

"Understood." The man coolly replied. Not once had his voice change throughout their conversation. Bill, with one last look at Six-Fingered Hand, left the room once more. As soon as he left, the Man behind the Chair scratched an itch near the tattoo on his right shoulder.

_Coffee. You're going to need lots of coffee for tonight._

_**A/N: Wow, I am really loving writing Six-Fingered Hand! It's funny, 'cause even I don't know who he is.**_


	16. Memories

_**A/N: I wanted just to comment on one of my recent reviews. To answer your question, no, there's not going to be a Dipper/Nicole thing going on. Dipper still has a crush on Wendy in this story, not to mention I find it'd be sort of weird. They're just going to remain… I wouldn't necessarily say "friends", considering everything they've gone through, but "mutually tolerating each other". With that out of the way, I hope you guys enjoy!**_

**Chapter Sixteen: Memories**

**Dipper's POV**

The first thing I noticed when I woke up is was that my ankle didn't hurt.

Confused, I sat up. Taking a closer look, it had seemingly healed overnight. I didn't even feel the dull throb I expected; it was like nothing had happened to it. When I looked around the camp, that's when I noticed something else: Nicole wasn't there. Instead, a trail of footprints leading down the cave was in her place. Curious, I followed them.

They lead me to a rather open cave. I couldn't see any light from the top, but I could see in the cave. There was a huge lake in the middle, most of the coast white and black dotted sand. And, in the middle of it all, was Nicole. Her back was faced towards me, and she didn't show any signs that she knew I was there. I was about to go back in the cave when I heard her say, "Dipper, can we talk? I mean, if it _is _Dipper I'm addressing."

I turned back and saw she was looking at me. "Yeah, it's me." I said, though I didn't get any closer. I mean, this _was _the same woman that has nearly gotten me killed a few times now.

"Look," she said, turning back to the water, "I know I haven't been the most…approachable of people. I don't really blame you for staying as far away from me as possible. But we might be in here for a while. Heck, we might…"

She stopped, not wanting to finish the sentence. I didn't blame her; I knew what she was going to say. It crossed my mind once or twice already.

"My point is," she continued, "it might be awhile before we see anyone else. So, could we just let bygones be bygones?" I didn't reply. Like I said before, she _did_ nearly get me killed on more than one occasion. "Okay, can you at least trust me to get you out of here alive?"

I thought for a minute. There was no way I could trust her. Once again, SHE NEARLY GOT ME KILLED.

…But… she did have a point. There hadn't been any definite sign of escaping here… and Bill said nothing about there even _being_ an exit…

I sighed. "Fine," I replied. I looked off to the side to find her backpack, still opened. Inside, a red book was still poking out.

"You still have this?" I asked, taking out the first Journal. She turned around to see what I was talking about.

"Yeah," she answered. "It's why I'm here to begin with. Apparently, if you let your feet soak in cave water for twenty minutes, it'll prevent major injuries to your feet."

I snickered. "Okay, now you're just messing with me. There's no way-."

"Page fifty-two," she said. My smile went away as I opened to the page she said. It read:

_Today, I nearly drowned in the lake near Scuttlebutt Island (I was there for different reasons). However, I was saved by the small water sprites living within the water. (Note: Do not approach these creatures if you can. They quickly become ravenous. I still have enough teeth marks on my skin to make it a bit of a hindrance.) Before I left (and found out of their taste for human flesh), they told me of an old practice in which water sprites will help prevent injury to a certain part of your body. When your skin begins to wrinkle, it'll be the sign that the ritual is done, so keep still for about ten minutes (and I do mean still; that's the only way the sprites can't try to eat you. Disrupting the process with cost you both the protection and that limb)_

"…Wow."

"I told you."

I put back up the book before I noticed something else in the bag. Taking it out, I found it was a picture of a family. There was a little boy in the front, with black hair, brown eyes, and darkly tanned skin. He wore a dark blue t-shirt, tan khakis, and black shoes. His wide smile was contrasted by the father's rather stern looking face. He had lightly tanned skin, black hair and five o'clock shadow, and dark green eyes. He wore a pair of black combat boots under tan pants, a white t-shirt, a green version of my vest, and a pair of dog tags. The mother, having a small smile, shared a striking resemblance to Nicole: long black hair in a ponytail, darkly tanned skin. The only difference appearance wise was her baby blue eyes and her outfit: a one sleeved purple dress, a black belt, and black heels. In the photo, she was pregnant.

"What are you looking at?" Nicole said, scaring me half to death. She was right next to me, barefooted. Grabbing the photo, she took a look at it. Her eyes softened, as if remembering something. They turned back to normal as Nicole shoved it into her pocket. "Come on, let's get back to the camp."

She got the backpack and began walking to her shoes.

"Nicole…" I began, knowing I was about to tread on some dangerous ground about that photo.

"It was taken a long time ago." She told me, as if reading my mind. "Those people in there don't exist anymore."

There was a brief moment of silence. "Who were they, then?" I asked.

Another brief silence occurred. Nicole took in a breath of air, trying to seem calm, but I could hear it was shaky.

"They were my family."

* * *

**No POV**

"Mabel, you seem down. Is everything okay?"

Mabel looked to her left and saw Mermando, swimming below her feet, a look of concern on his face.

"Don't worry, Mermando, everything's fine." Mabel said, faking a smile. She never liked to lie, but in this case, it was necessary. Mabel never wanted to _be _in another situation where it was necessary, yet here she was. Stuck between a former (or maybe current; Mabel made a mental note to ask if Mermando had any mermaids he had his eye on) flame and her current crush, after realizing he was already in a relationship with a girl back in Danville. What did _she _have that Mabel didn't, anyway? Aside from the triangular headed boy, anyway.

Speaking of which, that simple finger twitch Phineas had last night evolved into a full body tremble. In all honesty, Mabel thought he was beginning to go a little nutty. _But he looks so cute when he's crazy! _Mabel smiled, though it got back to a frown when she remembered Phineas' girlfriend. Let's see… well, she had black hair. Maybe if she dyed her hair she could get Phineas' attention? No, that probably wasn't it. Nicole had black hair and they didn't seem to have any romantic tension between them. Okay…pink! She only wore pink in the photo. More pink then?

Just as Mabel was formulating a sweater that was purely nothing but pink, Mermando once more snapped her out of her thoughts: "Hey, that sticker in the corner looks a lot like a puffer fish I know."

Mabel looked on the back of her backpack. Amongst all the rainbows, glitter, unicorns, motivational ("Hang in there, Kitty!"), and other random girly stickers, she saw the one that the merman pointed out. "Oh, do you want it?" She asked, prepared to give him the holographical sticker. "If you move it back and forth, it looks like its breathing bubbles!"

"It's fine." Mermando replied. "I don't care much for Toby; he still owes me money. He keeps _saying _he paid off his debt, but he's a total liar! I won those three hundred sand dollars fair and square, but _no, _he's just too cheap! Why I oughta…!"

"Soooo, Phineas," Mabel interrupted, before Mermando could continue his rant. "You haven't said much."

"Hm?" Phineas said, seeming to come out of some sort of trance. "Oh, sorry. I've just been thinking about some stuff. You know, back in Danville."

"You know, you've hardly mentioned anything about Danville." Mabel commented. "What do you even do over there? What's your life like? Got any friends?" _What about your girlfriend? Are you guys in a rough patch? If you are, you should TOTALLY move on from her! Maybe even go out with, I don't know, someone right next to you!_

Phineas grinned. "Danville's the best place in the world! Gravity Falls is pretty cool, too, but nothing can compete with Danville. I actually build things over there, you know, with Ferb and a few of our friends. I remember this one time where we built a town-spanning rollercoaster! And another where we went to the moon! And another where we became one-hit wonders! Maybe you've heard of us? We called ourselves 'Phineas and the Ferb-Tones'."

"Oh! You mean 'Gitchee Gitchee Goo'? I love that song! So did Dipper, but he'll never admit it." Mabel said, remembering when her brother kept singing it in the shower. Grunkle Stan had the best timing sometimes…

"Yeah! And that's only a few things we've done!" Phineas continued on, Mabel and Mermando listening to each of the boy's notable exploits.

* * *

Robbie, Wendy, and Soos were once more treading along in the woods. Asides from being thirsty, fighting not to go to sleep, and hungry, it had started to rain.

If you can't already tell, this hasn't been one of their better days.

While Wendy was in the front, hacking away at branches at branches with a hand axe (she apparently brought it with her everywhere since she used to participate in lumberjack games with her dad), Robbie and Soos were walking in the back.

"So what happened last night when I left?" Soos casually asked, using his arms as an expansion of his hat for the rain.

"Nothing," Robbie replied, grumpier than usual; his hoodie was soggy from the rain pouring down.

"Dude, I could feel the tension last night." Soos commented. "I mean, I remember this one time my Abuelita and I were camping, and I had a nightmare about this British Dog Man, but apparently I was making a lot of noise so Abuelita woke me up, but for a split second I thought _she _was the British Dog Man, so I-."

"Soos, do you _mind _not talking about your Grandmother for five minutes?" Robbie growled, taking Soos back.

"Whoa, don't need to be so territorial, dude." He told him. Robbie blinked a few times.

"I-I'm sorry. I've just been thinking a lot about Wendy and I getting back together, and with last night and all…"

"It's okay." A small silence. "Say, how'dyou two meet? I've never heard the story."

Robbie smiled, giving a small chuckle at the thought. "It was back when we were kids. I pulled her pig tails one day, though why I did I forgot, and she punched me in the face. After that, we made up and became friends."

"Wow."

"Yeah, I know."

It was only a brief moment before Soos began, "Okay, so I was woken up from my sleep, right? My Abuelita scared me so badly that I accidently screamed, 'Get away from me, you British Dog Man!' But then she said-."

Robbie frowned as Soos continued on, not wanting to hear the rest of the story about Abuelita and some dog-thing he kept on mentioning.

* * *

"Ugh, I swear to God this pig is making us go around in circles!" Gideon complained. Not only was it getting abnormally hot, but he was starving and possible dehydrated, and Stan insisted they kept on following Waddles. "Really, how many times have we past that oak tree? We keep constantly passing that one oak tree!"

"Kid, it's a forest." Stan remarked. "There are oak trees everywhere."

"I know that, but it's always the same pattern! Oak, pine, oak, pine, two oaks, three pines, a bush, maybe a flower, rinse and repeat."

Stan looked around. For once, Gideon had a point. Their surroundings _did _start to seem awfully familiar. It did start to go in a pattern. Oak, pine…

Before he could begin to figure out what this meant, Waddles went by a little thing of grass and ate one of the daffodils. Behind it was a rock with strange writings on it, like some unknown language. Stan slightly smiled.

"…What? It's just some old rock." Gideon said, noticing what the man was looking at. _Or, at the very least, a blunt object I could use against Bill…or on the pig…Stanford might be on to something…_

"Nothing," Stan said, smile vanishing, getting up from his knees. "Just remembering something, that's all."

"Oh no, you're not going to go on about your youth and how 'kids these days don't know the struggles I went through', are you?" Gideon dreaded the thought.

Stan glared at him. Waddles once more oinked to get their attention before going down the seemingly never-ending road.

"Come on, we need to follow the pig." Stan told Gideon, to which the "psychic" groaned in response.

* * *

"_Hurry up, you're gonna miss it!" A young Stanford Pines shouted to his friend. The kid, maybe around twelve or so, looked rather wimpy, with freckles across his face. Thick black-framed glasses and a red t-shirt with blue jeans, with the added bonus of a few pimples beginning to form, added to his already nerdish feel. His friend panted, struggling to keep up. The other young kid, who's known to us as Six-Fingered Hand, shouted back, "Stan, slow down! You know I can't run as fast as you!"_

"_I know, but this is amazing!" Stan continued on. A minute passed before the two of them reached their destination. Six-Fingered Hand wheezed, not having run so hard in his life._

"_Are you ready? It's almost time!" Stan was clearly excited. Honestly, in all the years he's known him, Six-Fingered Hand never saw him as happy as he was that evening._

"_Hold on, let me make sure I don't die from lack of air first." The other complained, to which Stan slightly laughed. He softly punched his friend in the arm as Six-Fingered Hand smiled himself._

"_Oh, shut it, will you?" Stan said. He checked his watch and grinned widely. "It's time!"_

_Stan kneeled down right next to a small little patch of grass and such. The other did the same; his knees were immediately greeted with a small prick. He winced, though did nothing more. He always hated those grey shorts anyway; at least he now had a reason for wearing jeans the next time he could._

_When Stan opened up the grass a little bit, Six-Fingered Hand gasped. The grey rock had been filled with small little sprites. They were brightly yellow, and seemed to be celebrating something._

"_Whoa." Six-Fingered Hand said, holding the opening while Stan stood up. "What are they?"_

"'_Woodland Sprites,'" Stan began. "'Though not as deadly as their water brethren, they are extremely hard to find. I only managed to stumble upon them by accident. The dance they are preforming is apparently another ritual. This time, the visitor's eyesight is extremely improved, down to the point where even miniscule details become huge parts of the scenery. However, after five minutes from the sunset, the creatures vanished abruptly. More study is needed to understand why.'"_

_Six-Fingered Hand nearly groaned, turning away from the dancing sprites. "Oh, is this from your Voodoo-medicine book again?"_

"'_Voodoo-medicine book'? You love seeing these things as much as I do!"_

"_Yes, but you won't shut up about that thing! It's starting to get annoying."_

"_A mysterious book with an unnamed author? Mythical creatures all around a fairly ordinary town? How could I NOT talk about this?!"_

"_Look, Stan, I know this is all exciting for you, but can we just-?"_

"_A tour business!"_

"…_What?"_

"_Everyone should be hearing about this! So why not start a touring business? We can gather some kids, have a twenty-five cent admission…it'd be something to do!"_

_The man (boy, rather) thought a moment. "Well…"_

"_Ooh, we can call it the Mystery Tour! Headed by the mysterious Mr. Mystery!" Stan put special emphasis on the 'Mr. Mystery' part, making it sound like a cheesy horror movie. Six-Fingered Hand laughed. He always remembered Stan loved big, important titles, most of which were self-named. "We could trick out the golf cart, maybe I could steal Dad's old eye patch…"_

_As Stan continued on naming various ideas, the two boys began to head back. It was then, however, that Six-Fingered Hand noticed something: there seemed to be a silhouette of someone in the woods. It sorta looked like Bill, with it's triangle-like figure and all. It was an amusing little detail at first…_

_But then Six-Fingered Hand realized something._

_How did he begin thinking about this in the first place?_

_Well, Stan had seemed to remember the rock, he had begun to remember that day, and then…and then…_

_HE HAD FALLEN ASLEEP!_

The Man behind the Chair jerked awake in that moment to realize he was in a broom closet. Bill must have put him there after making him begin his dream. He tried to open the door.

Locked. Of course it was locked.

Knocking over the mop, he looked through the key hole. On the other side, Bill, surrounded by empty cups of coffee, was in the chair he had recently occupied. His usual yellow was replaced with fiery red. He must have known Six-Fingered Hand was awake, because his eyes glanced to the side where the broom closest he was trapped in was. Then, the demon began to laugh evilly, his eye once more looking at the monitors. Six-Fingered Hand realized he was already too late.

Bill Cipher was already being to create new monsters.


	17. Chaos Ensues: Part 1

_**A/N: Hi everyone! I am REALLY sorry for not posting yesterday. Things got complicated, and I just couldn't do it.**_

_**Also, another two-part! Because **_**WAY **_**too much is going to happen to fill one chapter. I'm even considering making it a three-part…**_

_**But enough of my filler. Enjoy!**_

**Chapter Seventeen: Chaos Ensues: Part 1**

**No POV**

Bill was having himself a ball.

Now that he was in control, he couldn't help but think of all the ways he could torment the unwilling subjects for Operation: Cipher Wheel, for both revenge on Six-Fingered Hand _and _his own personal gain.

Life was good for Bill.

Unfortunately, the Man behind the Chair (though I suppose you could now call him "The Man inside the Locked Closet") was beginning to be a nuisance.

"_When I get out of here, Cipher, I'll rip your eye out!" _Six-Fingered Hand shouted, slightly muffled by the door, trying to bang it down with pure strength.

"Ha!" Cipher laughed. "I'd love to see you _try_, Grandpa!"

Six-Fingered Hand paused a moment. Yes, it was true that he was old; around Stan's age, actually; and his wrinkled hands were becoming sad to look at.

Still, he couldn't give up. There were people inside of there. If he didn't help them…

…Who would?

Six-Fingered Hand was soon looking for another way out.

* * *

Tyrone shook his head as he sat up. That must have been the worst sleep he'd had all his life.

…All the day and a few hours of his life, now that he thought about it.

Yeah, there was still the matter of that, wasn't there? He looked on his wrist. It was very faint, but it read "#00618". It was sorta depressing, really; he wasn't even the real Tyrone, and Tyrone was already a copy of Dipper! No, the real Tyrone _had _disintegrated on the roof; he's been gone for a long time. Then how was he possible?

Simple: the clones. Bill created hundreds, _thousands_, of those clones, like they were a part of a factory. Nicole had only seen a few compared to what Tyrone saw. He was supposed to be like everyone else, with a simple goal: confuse the Native American preteen, possibly get incinerated, and kill Dipper and Nicole when she failed.

But something had gone wrong with him. Instead of getting the orders like everyone else, he got something else:

"_Get Nicole alone. Tell her about the bucket in her bag and your water weakness, and wait in a nearby cave for her. When the two of them join you, lead them safely to the rendezvous point. If they ask what's going on, make an excuse. But whatever happens, just keep them alive."_

Tyrone got the hat so the two could know he wasn't a threat. That stuff he said about Dipper to Nicole wasn't his words; he was just the mouthpiece to a microphone. He didn't know who was speaking on the other end, or who hijacked the process to begin with. All he knew was to follow the orders he was given. Tyrone supposed he was lucky; at least he _didn't _get incinerated with a touch, or drenched with water. But somehow, he felt…

Empty.

What was he going to do when he was done? His Creator was most likely going to destroy any evidence he existed, maybe even Tyrone himself.

_Stop calling yourself Tyrone! _He thought. _You're not him! You're…_

_You're someone else. You don't know who you are, but it's not him._

He sighed, rubbing his temples. All this questioning about his true self-worth was being to hurt his head.

"Tyrone?" He heard someone ask. He looked up to see it was Dipper. "Are you alright, man?"

"I'm fine." He responded, standing up. He might be questioning the true meaning of his existence, but he still had a job to do. "We better get a move on, though." He looked around. "Where's Nicole?"

"Down the cave, waiting for us," Dipper told him. Tyrone was about to go when Dipper grabbed his arm. "Uh… You _might _want to be a little careful. I think I might have crossed a bad line."

Tyrone glared at him. It was a miracle that the hijacker got through the first time; now he was going to have to do it _again?_

Remembering the hijacker, another thought occurred to Tyrone: for the whole time the intruder was online, there was a small buzzing at the back of his neck, like a warning of a break in of the system. Now, it had vanished.

Was something wrong?

Before he could think anymore, he heard Dipper say, "Aren't you coming?" It was then he realized that he hadn't moved from his spot.

"Yeah," Tyrone said, beginning to move. "Just thinking about something, that's all."

Though Dipper looked puzzled, he moved forward without a single question. _The answer will just confuse me more,_ Dipper resolved.

As the two of them entered the cave, Tyrone almost immediately got a bad feeling. How bad? Try hair standing on the back of your neck bad. Yet, he didn't know where it was coming from…

Nicole, seeing the two coming, stood up from the rock she was sitting on. She still looked pretty upset from something, but she clearly wasn't saying what.

As soon as the two boys were standing in the middle of the cave, Tyrone felt something like a sharp prick in the back of his neck, causing his head to turn.

"We've wasted enough time," Nicole began to say. "Let's just-."

"LOOK OUT!" Tyrone shouted, knocking the two out of the way of a giant, black fist.

* * *

Bill got up from a few boxes, unscathed. Six-Fingered Hand had gotten out, seeming to finish typing a command. The man half expected for Cipher to yell, "HOW DID YOU ESCAPE?!" (To which he'd reply sarcastically, "Because of the key you left in there." It would be both right and wrong; he used a bobby pin Bill had left). On the other hand, he expected Bill to make some "coming out of the closet" jokes ("I knew it all along!"), before a death threat, of course ("…But I'm killing you anyway!")

Instead, Bill just laughed again. "Oh, silly Six-Fingered Hand," he said.

The man turned his head to barely dodge a blue energy strike.

"Is that the best you've got?"

* * *

Mabel, Phineas, and Mermando were still going down the river. Phineas had finished all his stories a while ago, and now Mabel was getting a bit bored.

"Ugh, how LONG is this thing?!" Mabel said. (Yeah…she's surprisingly not the most subtle of people.)

"You're telling me." Mermando also complained; he was panting like a dog. "I've been swimming *pant* nonstop *pant* for who knows how long. What *pant* about you, Phine-?"

Mermando stopped midway when he saw Phineas. The dude was a wreck. That full body twitch was now gone; he was probably _certifiable _by now! Turning his head at every little noise, somehow regaining the eye-twitch, drumming with his fingers, and looking something like an insane serial killer from a horror movie.

…_What an odd kid…_ Mermando thought, turning his head awkwardly away. _It's lucky that Mabel seems to like him, because if she didn't, I probably would have abandoned him a while back._

Mermando had a small smile at the thought of Mabel. What a sweet girl…

He soon gained a frown. _What a lucky guy Mermando was._

Yep, like before, this wasn't the real Mermando, only a copy. How was he created? He didn't know. All he knew was his purpose: get Mabel and Phineas to the rendezvous point safely.

Yet he also questioned what he was going to do when the two got from Point A to Point B. However, it wasn't if he would live or die; it was purely about Mabel. How would she react to figure out he wasn't Mermando? Would she hate him? Grow to like him, if at all? Mabel, Mabel, Mabel; she became his only thoughts!

"Mermando?" a voice spoke up; it was Mabel's. "You're falling behind."

The merman snapped out of his thoughts. She was right; he _was _beginning to slow down a bit. He quickly picked up speed. "Hey, we can stop if you want." Mabel's face was one of concern. She looked at Phineas for a moment. _We might all need a break, actually…_

"No, do not worry about me, Mabel." Mermando wore a fake smile. "I am fine."

She was about to say something else, most likely to spark a bit of a disagreement, when she heard something.

"Did anyone else hear that, or was it just me?" Phineas asked, his eyes flickering around.

"No, I heard it too." Mabel replied. She looked at Mermando and he nodded, as he had heard it too. It was a very distinct _plop_, like a rock falling in water.

They stood still a moment before it happened again, this time closer: _plop._

Again. _Plop._

Again. _Plop._

Every time it happened, it grew louder. _PLOP._

Mabel realized what was going on before anyone else. "MERMANDO, GET AWAY FROM THERE!" She yelled, but to no avail.

Mermando was struck by a big rock, just at the tip of his tail.

He shouted, which somehow seemed to bring Phineas out of his trance. He looked around: Mabel was frantic, Mermando was trying to escape, and his tail was bleeding golden…spirals, if he was correct. Before Phineas could look closer, he heard another distinct sound:

A rock breaking.

And it was right above them.

Without thinking, Phineas tackled Mabel out of the way before a big, purple rock could crush them. Mermando's head was nearly crushed, but he managed to go out of the way and escape woundless.

But the next thing all of them heard chilled them right to the bone:

"_Knock, Knock."_

* * *

"Yes!" Bill cheered, looking at his work with Phineas, Mabel, and Mermando's screen. His arms were in the air in a joyous fashion. "Score one for Cipher!"

Six-Fingered Hand (after getting up from a particularly powerful attack, bleeding,) screamed, "RIGHT HOOK!" before punching the Dorito-shaped monster in the gut with his right fist.

* * *

Wendy wiped the sweat and rain off her brow. The rain was gone, but about everything else wrong with them remained. Soos and Robbie seemed to not take a particular liking to one another, and she was starting to get really tired. She began to wonder why she was doing any of this to begin with.

Then what Ma said came back: _"We need them to the center of the woods, remember?"_

_A hunch, _Wendy scowled. _I had to do all this on a hunch._

Still, it was better than nothing, she supposed.

Before she could get made over resolving her thoughts on yet _another _hunch, Robbie said the three words everyone wanted to hear:

"Look, there's water!"

Soos and Wendy looked, and indeed, there was a huge lake. The sun was finally shinning, the water looked fresh, and there was nothing there. The three of them smiled in unison as they scrambled over to the lake. They filled their canteens, drank straight from the water, and Wendy even started a splash fight. The three seemed to actually be enjoying themselves.

It wasn't until a few minutes later, when everything calmed down, that Soos noticed something.

"Does anyone else see that giant bird-thing that's getting closer towards us?"

Wendy and Robbie glanced up. They noticed a few things about the "bird-thing" quickly. Firstly, it was huge. Secondly, it had a blue-pink appearance, and spaced yellow eyes. And finally, it wasn't a "bird-thing" at all.

It was a Pterodactyl.

And it was getting awfully close…

Before anyone could realize what was going on, something caused them to slip into the lake, just barely missing the pterodactyl's claws from snatching them. But when they came up, their problem wasn't over yet.

The dinosaur was just turning around, about to fly back.

* * *

"Yeah, score one for Six-Fingered Hand!" The Man Currently Fighting Mano-A-Mano with a Dream Demon exclaimed, Bill Cipher under his foot. "…I think… Maybe… I'm calling this a win for me."

Bill blasted his face with blue energy again, knocking the man back.

* * *

"ARE WE GOING TO FOLLOW THIS THING FOREVER?!" Gideon exclaimed; he was at his wit's end with Waddles. "ARE WE JUST CURSED TO FOLLOW THIS THING UNTIL WE DIE?!" He glanced over at Stan, whom had taken off his jacket with all the heat. "Well… Maybe just until _you _die…"

Stan glared at the kid. They were getting into the ten billion argument they've had…I dunno, today?...while Waddles still walked down the dirt road. In each of his footsteps, if Stan would ever bother to notice, were golden squiggles, dancing around.

If you haven't already noticed, Waddles is not Waddles; he is but another copy (a shocking revelation, I know). And you know what? Gideon was right; Waddles _was _just leading them in circles. That's what he was programmed to do: go in circles until Stan finally realized what was going on. He was a smart guy, after all; even Bill knew that. But, so far, it hadn't been going well. Honestly, even the pig was growing bored.

It seemed like this was going to take a while before Waddles suddenly froze. Grunkle Stan and Gideon stopped as well.

"Waddles?" Stan asked, as if he was going to get an answer.

The pig's legs sporadically gave out. Collapsing to the dirt, Stan attempted to reach the pig, but was stopped by its ear-splitting squeal, as if it were in some huge pain.

Little did the two know, but somewhere else, both Tyrone and Mermando were doing the same thing. And no one knew what Six-Fingered Hand exclaimed after it began:

"What did you do?!"


	18. Chaos Ensues: Part 2

_**A/N: …And I'm back on schedule! Woo! Alright, so I did decide this was going to be a three-part. It's just going to fit better that way. But, either way, enjoy!**_

**Chapter Eighteen: Chaos Ensues: Part 2**

**No POV**

Nicole coughed, a few clouds of dust coming up as a result. She stood up, shaking her head; a few pieces of rubble fell out as a result.

It took her a minute to sort out her surroundings. Half the cave seemed to have crumbled, Tyrone was in the middle of some spasmodic attack (she didn't check on him, though, as it could have easily been a trick), and Dipper…

Well… She was standing on Dipper's hand.

She quickly took her foot off his hand and helped him up. Dipper also shook his head as Nicole asked, "You okay?"

"Fine," Dipper replied. "You?"

"Greatly confused…but alright, nonetheless."

Dipper looked up to see a giant. It was a miracle the beast was able to stand up in the cave, even greatly hunched over. It was also really, really…_really_…muscular; as in, Dipper and Nicole were probably the weight and size of dust to him. It was black as the night, the only color on its body being green grass patches on his shoulders. The grey…skirt, maybe a loincloth?...was as big as a tarp. There was a long, red scar on his chest, almost as red as his glowing eyes. His two horns were white, one dulled and the other broken. Dipper recognized him almost immediately.

"Leaderaur," he whispered in shock.

"Somehow, I'm not surprised you two know each other." Nicole remarked.

Before Dipper could get in a retort, Leaderaur took in a deep intake of air. Dipper realized was about to happen and shoved Nicole out of the way. Two seconds later, a river's worth of orange and red fire engulfed the ground where they once stood. The two went behind a boulder's worth of fallen ceiling as they felt their backs scream in agony, feeling charred clothing against the rough terrain of rock. At most, they winced, but neither screamed.

Nicole's head turned around, her eyes scanning the monster, trying to see where his minuscule prey head. She fished around in her pocket, not taking her glance off the monster. When she finish, Dipper saw what she pulled out: a golden protector and a silver-colored pencil. At first, he was surprised.

The expression quickly turned to anger.

"You've had those the whole time?! And you _never _thought of using them?!" Dipper whispered.

"Well, let's see," Nicole annoyingly replied. "So far I've seen a demon which it probably wouldn't have affected, you, clones of you who were sent to confuse me on which one was actually you, and Tyrone who, again, _is another freaking clone!_" With her glare, Dipper considered it best to stay silent. "Besides, you still have Journal 3, which is all about monsters, and I don't see you pulling it out."

"It wouldn't have anything helpful." He defended. "The most it has on Manotaurs is what they look like. Not a single weakness is listed."

Nicole's scowl seemed to deepen as the weapons extended to their former glory. She focused her aim on Leaderaur, raising the arrow towards his head. After a deep breath, the arrow was released, whizzing through the air.

It barely managed to cut the grass on his shoulder. Nicole slightly growled, mumbling something under her breath.

She grabbed another arrow and sent it flying. However, this one also managed to miss its mark, but this was because a rock suddenly came in front of it. Dipper said something that sounded like "How'd that rock get there?" but Nicole didn't hear it. She was too busy prepping another arrow. Once the last one was ready, Leaderaur was almost around the corner. _I've got one shot at this…_ she thought, taking in another deep breath. The arrow was launched.

This time, it hit its mark.

It was a bit of an overshot, but the arrow hit the creature's left shoulder. It didn't seem like it hurt it too badly, as the creature just flicked it off. But it now knew where the two were. Leaderaur released smoke from his nostrils as he stared at the two kids. Dipper was beginning to back up, but Nicole stood her ground. Soon, the creature was taking a deep breath, revealing his Adam 's apple. Nicole smirked as she quickly grabbed another arrow, firing it within moments.

The arrow lodged itself right in the middle of its throat.

"Yes!" Nicole cheered as Leaderaur grabbed his neck. She looked at Dipper with a wild gleam in her eyes. "Ha! And you were beginning to back up!"

"Yeah, because I still have some freaking common sense!" Dipper fired back.

"Oh right, because common sense will do you any good in here." Nicole sarcastically replied. Dipper looked behind her as she continued, "If anything, you should be _thanking _me for saving your life _yet again_, 'cause we'd probably be fried shish-kabobs right now if I hadn't-."

She was interrupted by Dipper's hand clamping over her wrist. He dragged her off to the side in a sprint as the two of them nearly were burned again.

Leaderaur hadn't been killed by that shot. Not even mortally wounded. The only thing that remained of that attack was an arrow, thrown off to the side, with green blood on the tip.

* * *

Mabel was seeing things.

She and Phineas were on the ground, looking up at a being that looked immensely tall. It was grey colored, with a small tinge of purple. His legs and arms were practically sticks as he descended the rock spiral, almost spider-like. His hat and outfit were some horrid mash-up of orange, brown, and grey. If that wasn't frightening enough, you should have seen his face: a yellow jack-o-lantern face mask, which was smiling. It had to some sort of illusion, right?

No.

This was all too real.

"I'm sorry," Phineas began, "but who are you?"

"_They call me the Summerween Trickster," _The creature said, its voice almost as chilling as its appearance.

"Again, I'll explain later." Mabel told him, not wanting the red-head to make a fool of himself.

"_You know, it certainly has been a long time since I've eaten,"_ The Summerween Trickster began, coming towards them. _"It's like I've been starving since last Summerween."_

Mabel gulped. "Heh heh," she nervously began. "I suppose you wouldn't happen to like beef jerky?" Mabel pulled out a bag of the jerky, slightly sweating, the two children backing up.

"_Hm… Not today, unfortunately." _The Trickster stated. _"I was more thinking… a triangular-headed main course… with possibly a brunette a la carte, if you'd be so kind." _The Trickster attempted to snag the two, but Mabel and Phineas dodged and began to run.

As the chase began, Mermando began to panic. He was feeling faint, but he knew that Mabel and Phineas were in trouble. He attempted to pull himself out from under the rock, but to no avail; in fact, it might have made his situation worse than it already was.

Mermando looked around, desperate for something that could allow him to get loose. He then saw it by chance. A small flicker in the ground. It was brief, but long enough. It moved down the way towards the merman's tail. If he timed it right…

The flicker got closer and closer. Mermando waited until the last possible chance. He closely followed the flickering as it got under the boulder.

To many, it was only a brief second the flash appeared under the rock.

But for Mermando, it was long enough to get it free.

He thanked God for his good fortune as he swam around a bit. He winced; it hurt a lot and he was still bleeding, sure, but at least the tail was free.

Without a moment's hesitation, he swam to Mabel and Phineas' aid.

* * *

By the time they got out of the water, Soos, Robbie, and Wendy barely managed to duck as the Pterodactyl swooped down once again. Its claws managed to take off Wendy and Soos' perspective hats, but fortunately that was the extent of the damage. When they looked up, the Pterodactyl let out a screech, standing not too far near them.

"Dudes, stand in front of it!" Soos said.

"Why?" Wendy asked.

"Okay, this is going to sound crazy, but I've actually seen this thing before." Soos began. "When I faced it, I stood in front of it, and because its eyes are too spread apart, it couldn't see me."

"Well, I can't think of anything else to do." Robbie shrugged. The three were soon off the ground, standing one behind another sideways. The creature turned to them and, once more, Soos' plan worked. The Pterodactyl was completely unaware of where they were. Its head turned slightly to each side as the three stood perfectly still. It seemed like the creature was about to fly away when Wendy suddenly yelped. The two men with her saw that the ground had seemingly vanished for a moment, causing Wendy to fall. But they had a bit of a problem:

It had reappeared, and Wendy was now chest-high in dirt.

Worst yet was that one of Wendy's arms got into the creature's line of sight. The Pterodactyl turned its head fully right to see that the three had never left. It was beginning to become airborne as Robbie and Soos struggled to get Wendy loose. Wendy looked up in fear as the dinosaur swooped down once more. Than something else unexpected happened:

The dirt vanished again, Soos and Robbie pulling full force.

The resulting fall caused them to be right in the line of the Pterodactyl. Once more, Wendy left unscathed, but Soos and Robbie weren't has fortunate. One of the dinosaur's claws came in contact with Soos' skin; one more inch back and it would have collided with his throat. However, this was not the case, and Soos' face was completely scratched down the middle, from the chin to the head. Soos shouted in pain, falling back while covering his face. Wendy could see the bloody tip of his nose when she heard another scream, this time from Robbie. And it wasn't because of an injury.

Robbie's hoodie had snagged onto one of the dinosaur's claws, and he was quickly gaining altitude.

* * *

_I'm sleeping. _Gideon thought. _That's what it is. I just fell asleep and I'm now in some horrible nightmare. By the time I'll wake up, I'll be back in my cell and nothing would have happened._

But no, Gideon wasn't sleeping. This wasn't all some dream.

If it was, he wouldn't have had to hang on to dear life to the edge of a hole.

Once Waddles began squealing, everything turned to chaos. The sky was beginning to become a multicolored mess, the ground was rising and falling in random areas, and some items just began disappearing altogether. Stanford wasn't faring all-too well, either; the dude was hanging on for dear life on some roots that were quickly breaking.

Wait, why was he grabbing on roots?

Oh. The place had turned upside down. That's why.

Gideon grabbed on to the dirt even harder than he already was. Oh great, the time and effort he'd have to go through to clean them would be monstrous. Bill was _dead _the next time he saw him.

Stanford, on the other side of the spectrum, was quickly changing hands (and roots) while Gideon was silently cursing out Bill. Soon, Stan was right next to Waddles. He was about to insult the pig for getting them in this mess when he noticed something: Waddles wasn't holding on to anything. Well, he really couldn't; he was still violently convulsing.

So how wasn't it being pulled down? (Well, up, technically.)

Stan took a closer look at the creature's paws. They looked shiny, like they were recently polished. However, looking closer, he realized they were made of tiny gold squiggles. But that wasn't it; there was something else about the squiggles. They… They formed a message. Stan silently read it over.

He almost instantly paled.

"Oh my God," Stan whispered in disbelief. The phrase was in Latin: _"Fraternitatem Reminiscentis Omnium"._

"_The Brotherhood Remembers All"._

* * *

Six-Fingered Hand stared in disbelief at Cipher. He'd done it.

He'd actually done it.

Bill's face of triumph was clear at the text that appeared in the screen in front of him:

**SYSTEM DELETION INITIATED.**

**DELETING ALL PROGRAMS.**

"Are you INSANE, CIPHER?!" Six-Fingered Hand cried in agony, rushing over to the monitoring system. "A system deletion?! You'll kill everyone inside!"

"I know!" The demon laughed; his voice was all-too cheery. "It'd ought to be fun to watch!"

Needless to say, the man was horrified. He attempted to stop the deletion when Bill levitated him, slamming him against the wall. A blue hex was casted, binding him to the wall. No matter how hard he tried, the old man couldn't get free. The demon was about to leave when Six-Fingered Hand shouted. "We had a deal, Cipher! If I created the system, you promised no one would get killed!"

Bill turned to the man. He chuckled.

"That's the thing, though; you should never make a deal with me."


	19. Chaos Ensues: Part 3

_**A/N: …And of course I'm late posting again! Sorry about that! Stupid surprise Math test…**_

_**Anyways, enjoy!**_

**Chapter Nineteen: Chaos Ensues: Part Three**

**No POV**

The Brotherhood. Stan almost dreaded the name nowadays.

They were probably the reason why he was in this mess. The "boys from the lodge", as Stan always called them. To be fair, they're probably the only reason how he's been able to survive for so long. Honestly, it was a miracle he didn't break his back the first time he entered the maze…thing (yeah, what _was _the proper title for this, anyway?)

Aside from name confusion, he knew something very clear about the Brotherhood: they swore to protect anyone and everyone against the power of Bill Cipher. He was a being of pure energy, after all. It actually was the reason why he left: defending the town came first; anyone else could take a hike. When he received the call from his Niece that Dipper and Mabel were coming in town…well, he actually didn't think too much of it. It was after a few days of them being in town that the twins sorta grew on him. He even allowed them to take something from the gift shop, free of charge! That night, he went to his secret lab. For the past thirty years, he was working on a machine, capable of traveling to whole other dimensions. At the beginning of the summer, his plans were to focus only on the teleporter. But after that day…

…It was sorta at the back of his mind.

He announced a temporary abandonment from the Order (whether or not they listened didn't matter; he escaped with a smoke bomb after the message), focused a bit more on Dipper and Mabel, and checked in on the machine once in a while.

That is…until Gideon got a hold of the Shack.

When they managed to get back the deed and expose the little twerp as a fraud, Stan was shocked to discover that Dipper had Journal 3. That Journal was the last thing he needed before the machine could begin its work. And the fact that it was with Dipper the whole time? The kid was into mysteries, sure, but the fact he got the Journal was amazing (though in all likelihood, Stan realized it probably would have been one of the twins to find it. Maybe Mabel could have mistaken it for an arts-and-crafts project? Jeez, thank God it wasn't Journal _2_)!

What did all of this have to do with the Brotherhood? Well, since Stan wasn't technically an active member right now, he hasn't gone to the meetings in a while. It wasn't out of the question that one of the members _had _gotten into the system…the question was of who did. Well, he doubted that Cipher would be stupid-or crazy-enough to let in some of the members, especially the higher-ranking ones.

Though…there was _one _possible exception to that… No, what was he thinking? It couldn't have been who he was _thinking _of…

…Then again…

Stan was beginning to wonder when he felt one of his shoes slip off his feet. Oh yeah, that unknown force was still there, trying to suck them in.

Funny how something like that slips your mind so easily.

"Gideon, I think I have an idea on how to get out of here." Stan told the fake psychic. "You need to-."

Stan stopped when he turned his head around. He saw Gideon wasn't listening to him. Well, he wasn't doing much of anything:

He had fallen asleep.

And began to lose his grip to the dirt…

Stan darted (to the best of his abilities) towards Gideon. One hand held onto the grasses, Stan reached out to Gideon just as his grip failed. Just as it seemed the fraud would have perished, the old man managed to grab his pudgy wrist. Keeping a tight grip, Stan thoughts became rapid and too many. Alright…what would the Brotherhood want him to do? Say something? If so…what? The motto? His name and ranking? The pledge of allegiance backwards, what?!

Suddenly, the person Stan thought could bypass into the system came creeping back into his brain.

What if he…

It was a long shot, but it could work. Stan said the first thing to pop in his mind:

"My ex-wife still misses me…BUT HER AIM IS GETTING BETTER!"

For a few moments, nothing changed. Stan was worried that it hadn't worked when he noticed something.

Waddles wasn't having a spaz-attack anymore.

In fact…the pig was gone.

Ever so slowly, the scenery began to turn back to normal. After gravity went back to normal, Stan let go of Gideon and stood back up, going a bit knobby-kneed in the process. Soon, the familiar tranquility returned, as the small hum of bug sounds returned like nothing had happened. Gideon shot up, gasping for air.

"Whoa, kid, take it easy!" Stan told him; Gideon was noticeably paler than normal. "What happened to you?"

"I-," Gideon began, only to stop. "Nothing. Just thought I saw something, that's all."

You didn't need to be an expert on body language to know he was lying. Stan seemed like he was going to ask about it when Gideon changed the subject. "When'd that get there?"

He pointed off to the side. Stan turned and saw what looked like a trap door. He went by it and tapped the top. It was real wood. His eyebrows narrowed as he opened the entryway. Inside, there was a dark tunnel system, lit by only the occasional torch. The two shared a look.

Stan got off his knees and was about to go in when Gideon spoke up. "What did you say when I was out? Something about an ex-wife?"

The old man chuckled. "Just an old joke." He replied, entering the tunnel.

_I originally heard it from an old friend_, he silently added, the child following him down the mysterious passageway.

* * *

Wendy was torn.

On the one hand, one of her friends had just been clawed chin-to-forehead by a Pterodactyl, and was most likely experiencing extraordinary pain by her own fault. On the other hand, her ex was being carried away by said Pterodactyl, most likely about to become dino-chow.

Actually, this wasn't really going to be a hard choice, was it?

Before Wendy could help out Soos, he said to her, "Don't worry, I'm fine; you need to go help Robbie!"

Having a decent chunk of your face being cut wasn't really what Wendy classified as "fine", but Soos wanted her to worry about Robbie. Reluctantly, she turned towards the Pterodactyl and Robbie. Looking towards the trees, she ran towards one of the taller ones. Not having much of a plan aside from _"run, climb, and pray you get lucky"_, she began to act out part two of the plan: climb.

On the other side of this, Robbie was screaming like a little girl. Well, how couldn't he? Something told him he'd develop a permeant fear of heights after this. Still, he wasn't just waiting to get rescued; he attempted to get his hoodie loose of the dinosaur, but he was beginning to get higher and away from water. If he tried to get out now, Robbie would end up a pancake!

Back with Wendy, she managed to get atop of that tree she was climbing. The Pterodactyl wasn't too far away; in fact, it was right by the tree. Wendy waited for the perfect moment…

And then jumped on the dino's neck.

Robbie looked on, shocked that Wendy was practically wrestling with a huge freaking dinosaur. In fact, he almost didn't notice that they were beginning to loose altitude until his sneaker got a little wet. He soon got unhooked, splashing into murky water as he fell in. Wendy followed suit, but not because she wanted to; the dinosaur had inexplicably vanished beneath her. As she got out of the water, Robbie wadded over to her.

"You alright?" Wendy asked.

"Fine." He replied. "I just can't believe you wrestled a Pterodactyl."

"Yeah, neither do I."

Robbie slightly smirked at her comment as the two got out of the water. Soos, still on the beach, looked a lot less damaged then Wendy expected; his face looked recently cleaned as a white bandage laid perfectly down the middle of his face.

"Soos-?" Wendy began, worry laced within her words.

"I'm okay, dude." Soos reassured. "Hurts a lot, sure, but I should be fine."

A small smile came on Wendy's face as Soos pointed off to the side. "Okay, you're never gonna believe this, but a blue trail just suddenly appeared when you two were gone. It might lead to a way out or something."

The two teens looked; indeed, there was a trail of blue sparkles leading back in the woods. Robbie shrugged.

"Seems likely. Let's just get out of here; this place gives me the willies."

* * *

Phineas and Mabel were panting behind a rock.

They'd managed to trick the Summerween Trickster long enough in order to hide. It wasn't a very good spot, sure, but as long as it covered them, it was enough. The Trickster as still looking for them as Phineas peered around the edge.

"Have any *pant* ideas, Phineas?" Mabel asked in between breaths.

"Hmm…" Phineas thought. Well, according to a rushed explanation by Mabel, the thing was made out of "loser candy". However, eating was out of the question because…well, it just would have been really creepy. He looked up at one of the rock spirals, as maybe they could be lucky and it'd fall right on top of it. Unfortunately, dumb luck wasn't an option; those rocks were as sturdy as could be. A few more failed possibilities ran through Phineas' head.

That's when he realized something horrible.

"I…I don't know." He said. He turned to her. "Unless we somehow get lucky in the next ten seconds, I don't think we'd be able to-."

A voice behind Mabel cleared his throat. The two turned to see Mermando. Mabel practically screamed with joy.

"Mermando, you're okay!" She hugged him tightly, causing the merman to blush. Mabel got out from her near bear-hug grip as she looked as his tail. She gasped at the still bleeding wound. "Your fin!"

The merman looked down. "It's nothing." He reassured, clearly lying through his teeth.

"I don't suppose you happen to have any ideas on how to get out of here?" Phineas brought back up the monster currently stalking them.

Mermando looked at the creature. He then got it. "I do, actually!" The Spanish-man/fish said. "Mabel, you need to go down to the cave's exit. Go down until you are out of sight, and wait for us there."

"What?! But-!" Mabel began to protest.

"Mabel, please. You have to trust me on this one."

She stopped a moment before sighing. "Fine," she begrudgingly agreed, running down towards the other cave's mouth.

"As for you, Phineas," Mermando told the red head. "I need you to take out a flashlight, go up on to ledge, and wait for my word."

Phineas nodded, running up to where the merman pointed. Mermando, on the other hand, was swimming against the stream to meet up with the monster. His head bobbed out of the water as he shouted, "Hey, Candy-Man!"

The Trickster turned his head, looking at the merman with those fake, beady eyes.

"_Oh, a sushi course, I see." _It said, in an attempt to intimidate Mermando. The merman thought for a moment. How would Mabel react to what he was about to do? Well, she wouldn't like it, which was certain…

Mermando saw Phineas, flashlight in hand, standing on the ledge, trying to see what he was planning. The merman allowed a small grin on his mouth.

She'd thank him later.

"You know, I always wondered what taffy tasted like!"

Before the Trickster could react, Mermando leapt out of the water and onto his face, gnawing at his flesh. It felt completely wrong, sure, but this one time Mermando was willing to look over it.

Phineas was in complete surprised as Mermando wrestled with the candy-monster. At one point, the Trickster was completely hunched over, attempting to get the merman off, leaving his back vulnerable.

"NOW, PHINEAS!" Mermando screamed. Phineas realized what was happening and whacked a weak part of the wall with all of his might. It caused a huge vibration in the walls, shaking a nearby rock spiral loose. Mermando just barely leapt out of the way when the rock completely impaled the candy monster through the chest. It let out a nearly ear-splitting screech before bits of candy began to leak out of it.

It was leaving a small pool of it on the ground as Mabel saw Phineas and Mermando coming in. She smiled, wondering about a billion different things. Each thought silenced, however, when she saw Mermando. That hole in his tail was _nothing _compared to what he looked like now. He was a deathly pale, struggled to battle the weak current, and looked like he was about to collapse, then and there.

"Oh my God!" She shouted, coming by the merman's side. Phineas was right next to her as Mermando said, "I can't go on. You'll have to leave without me."

"What?!" Phineas exclaimed. "Mermando, you save our lives twice! We can't just leave you!"

"You can and will." Mermando commanded them. Now it looked like he struggled to talk. "Follow the cave until you reach the middle. There you'll be able to get out."

Mabel looked horrified. "Mermando…"

He gave her a weak smile. "Don't worry, Mabel," Mermando told her, looking at her teary eyes. "I'll- I'll be fine."

His smile faded as his eyes began to close for the final time.

"Just…fine…"

* * *

Tyrone stopped moving.

At first, he slightly panicked. Was he about to die?! No…no… Still breathing. He almost sighed in relief.

If, you know, his lungs weren't on fire.

I'm not kidding; the area around his lungs were beginning to come in contact with flames. He had enough common sense to wiggle away as he patted out the fire. After this, he scanned the scene around him:

The big, scary, half-bull thing in front of him seemed to be running in circles as a blur of blue and black ran in front of him. Fire would come out occasionally from the creature's nose, but nothing much more. Tyrone stood up before he heard a loud scream. He looked to see that Leaderaur had lashed out one of his claws out on the black blur. She-and it was a she, judging by the scream-fell down as the blue blur screamed a name:

"NICOLE!"

Tyrone gasped, looking around for something. Then he saw it; a silver arrow, covered in something green, was not too far away from where he was. On complete instinct alone, he grabbed the arrow and tossed it at the beast as hard as he could. It collided with a lower section of his back, and Leaderaur only saw it as a small injury. He flicked out the arrow before turning back to his dinner.

But here was a problem: his dinner was gone.

Once more, the monster began looking for his food, growling.

Tyrone, meanwhile, ran towards where Dipper and Nicole were, (and I'll bet you'll _never _guess this) hiding behind a boulder. Nicole was only barely being supported by Dipper, but she looked horrible. The back of her tank was torn open, only seeming to stay on her body by a thread, and her breath was shaky. Dipper looked almost relieved to see Tyrone.

Almost.

"We need to find a way out of here!" Dipper exclaimed, picking up Nicole when she began to slip out his grip.

Tyrone looked around. "There's a cave opening over there!" He said, pointing towards the entrance. He looked at the preteen, who nodded. Tyrone was carrying the other half of Nicole's body as the three made their way to the exit. It seemed like they were going to be home free…

…Until, of course, a roar was heard.

Dipper and Tyrone's heads turned in unison (Nicole really couldn't do much of anything). Leaderaur had picked up on their scents and began to head their way.

"Come on!" Dipper said, beginning to sprint for it.

"No."

The boy stopped. Dipper turned to see Tyrone hadn't moved a single step. He looked behind him; Leaderaur was gaining speed. Tyrone sighed, as if he might have been expecting this for a while. He went over to Dipper, letting Nicole's arm slip from his shoulder.

"Tyrone, what are you-?" Dipper began to ask. It was then that Tyrone took of his number '2' hat. Dipper's eyes widened in horror.

"Tyrone, don't do this!" Dipper pleaded with him.

"There's no other choice." Tyrone grimly replied. The clone almost acted too calm at the prospect of what was to come. He took Dipper's hat and switched it with his own. "You need to get Nicole help, and I'm the clone here."

"But-!"

"Look, all you need to do is follow the caves. When you reach the end, you'll know it." Dipper's hat was placed on his head.

Dipper was filled with dread. He knew there was no way of convincing-well, himself- to back out of this. Tyrone, with one last tip of the hat, ran away from the two. Leaderaur, seeing Tyrone's hat, mistook him for Dipper as he ran after. The real Dipper, on the other hand, put Nicole's other hand back on his shoulder. He walked, careful not to go too fast, to the blue and green backpacks (that had somehow appeared near the exit; Dipper was just going to go with it for now). Pushing the bags with his feet, Dipper and Nicole finally made it into the cave.

They were a little ways down when Dipper heard Tyrone's scream.

* * *

Bill Cipher once more burst through the door (Jeez, what was it, for the third time in the last forty-eight hours?) Six-Fingered Hand didn't even flinch. He was too busy slumped over in relief in his favorite black chair. The monitors had changed their tune quite a bit from the last time we'd seen them. They now read:

**SYSTEM OVERRIDE.**

**CANCELING SYSTEM DELETION.**

"How did you get out?" The demon demanded, teleporting in front of the man. He turned back to his red hue from before.

"Like I'm telling _you,_" Six-Fingered Hand cryptically replied. The triangle turned around as the man took out a blue piece of energy from his mouth. He slightly shivered. _I'm repressing the memories myself._

As Six-Fingered Hand flicked away the remains of his bonds, Cipher attempted to reprogram the system deletion. Every time he did, though, it just read "Error".

After four or five failed tries, Six-Fingered Hand finally spoke up. "It's not going to work, Bill. I changed the way the start system deletion."

A small tingle was at the back of his neck. _That's never worked, Bill. _The Man Once More behind the Chair thought, rolling his eyes. _My mind is sealed tighter than you can get through._

Cipher growled, as if he heard this, and the tingle once more ceased. He once more turned to the old man, who wore a bit of a smirk. The demon grew in size, looking like he was about to destroy the geezer. For most people, they would have shrieked.

For Six-Fingered Hand, he actually laughed.

"_Please_, Cipher, you're embarrassing yourself." The old man said.

"Oh, am I?" Bill voice became loud and echo-y. "What makes you think I won't destroy you right now, Six-Fingered Hand?!"

"Because you need me." He began. "Without me, this whole 'test-run' would have imploded in on itself long ago. I'm the only one who can get through all the security cracks, and I'm the only one who knows how to fix those cracks if needed. Face it, Bill; if you get rid of me, this whole thing goes down with me."

The demon's hands closed into fists.

However, he didn't strike.

Instead, he shrunk in size, back to normal form. Even his color turned back to its usual yellow. But, he wasn't going to repeat any mistakes. Bill snapped his fingers and a collar appeared around Six-Finger Hand's neck. It was silver and covered in odd, golden symbols.

"If you disobey any orders of mine again…" Bill began, allowing himself to stop. He closed one of his hands, hard. In response, the collar tightened, beginning to suffocate the old man. After one of two seconds, the demon released, making Six-Fingered Hand gasp for air. "Get it?"

The man nodded.

Putting his hands behind his back, the demon floated out.

Amazingly, he never seemed to notice that Stan and Gideon's monitor was on a continuous loop of them following Waddles.

_**A/N: Okay, seriously, does anyone have any good names for Six-Fingered Hand?! He's actually DEVELOPED into something! I don't want to have to keep calling him "Six-Fingered Hand" or "The Man (insert activity here)". I want to develop this guy more, maybe give him a backstory! ANY NAME WOULD BE LOVELY!**_


End file.
